MILWAUKEE – The Milwaukee men's basketball team raced out to a 19-4 lead and never looked back, advancing to the semifinals of the 2023 Barbasol Horizon League Tournament with an 87-70 blowout of Wright State Thursday night at the Klotsche Center.
 
The Panthers (21-10) got a game-high 29 points from BJ Freeman and led the Raiders (18-15) wire-to-wire in front of a sellout crowd, avenging a pair of losses to the visitors from during the regular season. The victory was also No. 450 of head coach Bart Lundy's career.
 
"Amazing start by these guys and we used that lead to propel us for the rest of the game," Lundy said. "They made some runs at us but we were able to score enough baskets and get enough stops. We thought we needed to hold them under75 and they got 70."
 
Ahmad Rand blocked the first WSU shot attempt of the day and it was game-on for the home team, seeing Milwaukee make it first six field goals on the night in racing out to that 15-point advantage just 5:29 into the contest.
 
"Great defensive effort," Lundy said. "I thought we were aggressive at the rim and made big shots. The biggest thing is that I was proud of them, they weren't afraid of the moment. I also want to thank that crowd and all of Milwaukee, our fans, our students, our alumni – that was amazing atmosphere and we can't thank them enough. And really, that had as much to do as anything with the win."
 
Freeman added six rebounds to his game-high 29 points, one of four Panthers to finish in double-figures.
 
Elijah Jamison tied his career high with 19 points, adding three assists. Kentrell Pullian went for 15 points, six rebounds, and three assists, while Jalen Johnson added 10 points and five rebounds in his first start of the season.
 
Rand was huge on the evening, adding a handful of spectacular dunks on his way to a near double-double of eight points and 11 rebounds.
 
Markeith Browning II made his first appearance in nearly a month after returning from injury, finishing with three points and seven rebounds in 19:13 of action.
 
Trey Calvin paced WSU with 28 points to lead the visitors.
 
Up 19-4 quickly, the lead grew to 31-12 on a long jumper from Jamison and to 34-15 on a Rand dunk. The lead stood at 45-27 at intermission with Milwaukee in full control.
 
The second-half advantage grew to as many as 23 at 62-39 on a jumper from Freeman before the Raiders made their first real run of the night. WSU went on a 13-2 scoring run to breathe some life back into it, but Freeman hit a huge three to make it 74-57 and Rand threw down an alley-oop on the fastbreak from Freeman that essentially put the game away at 81-63 and sent the sellout crowd of 2,951 into a frenzy.
 
MKE finished the contest at 50.7 percent (34-of-67) from the floor, making 36.4 percent (8-of-22) from long distance. The team dominated the glass to the tune of 48-31 and outscored the Raiders, 50-28, in the paint. The defense held Wright State to 38.2 percent (26-of-68) overall.
 
With the victory, the Panthers advance to the semifinals to the 2023 Barbasol Horizon League Championships and will play in Indianapolis Monday evening. The team will take on third-seeded Cleveland State in the last game of the evening, set for 8:30 p.m. CST from Indiana Farmers Coliseum.