INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. – The Milwaukee men's basketball team fell behind early and never could find its way back, seeing a furious second-half rally come up short in falling by a final score of 93-80 against Cleveland State in the semifinals of the 2023 Barbasol Horizon League Championship Monday evening.
 
The Panthers (21-11) cut a 28-point deficit down to single-digits against the Vikings (21-12) over the course of the second half, but could not get any closer down the stretch in the Panther Basketball Postseason presented by Educators Credit Union.
 
"First thing is congratulations to Cleveland State and also to Northern Kentucky," head coach Bart Lundy said. "We were really motivated in the quarterfinal against a team that had beaten us twice and I think that script was flipped a little on us tonight. College basketball is a funny thing – it's energy, it's motion, it's motivation. The only thing from a basketball perspective that I was disappointed in is that I think some of our systems failed. But credit to them, they put us in those situations."
 
Jalen Johnson led the way with a season-high 24 points, finishing 10-of-14 from the floor while adding eight rebounds.
 
BJ Freeman added 19 points, four rebounds, and four assists, while Justin Thomas also added double-figures with 10 points.
 
"I am proud of our group," Lundy said. "We had 13 new guys, four returners, zero corporate knowledge. A program that was in the dumps – no fanbase, nobody cheering for them. I actually had people tell me it was an 'impossible job' when I got here. And if you rewind to the quarterfinal, we had a standing-room only crowd and played really beautiful basketball. It's too bad that we didn't get to show that here in Indy. These 17 guys that had some faith and came together, we hopefully have laid the foundation for great things moving forward. I am proud of them – it was an honor to coach this group. You can say lot of things about us, but there was no give and no quit in any game."
 
Cleveland State raced out to a 20-5 lead and held off the late charge from Milwaukee. The team was led in scoring by Tristan Enaruna with 24 points, also adding eight rebounds. Deante Johnson added a double-double of 14 points and 10 boards and also blocked four shots.
 
Milwaukee trailed 62-34 early in the second half and still by 24 when CSU banked in a lucky three-pointer at the shot clock buzzer to make it 71-47.
 
The Panthers made an impressive push from there, ripping off a 19-4 run that cut the margin back below double-figures at 75-66 on a pair of Freeman free throws with 6:07 to play.
 
Cleveland State then stemmed the tide with a huge dunk from Tae Williams and followed that up with a three with 3:45 to go that extended their advantage back to 85-68 and put the game away.
 
Milwaukee shot 40.3 percent (31-of-77) from the floor, while CSU was at 49.3 percent (35-of-71). A huge differential came in transition, where the Vikes held a 32-11 advantage.
 
The Horizon League Tournament comes to an end for MKE, but the postseason has not for now. The program has accepted an invitation to the College Basketball Invitational. Stay tuned for the official announcement of the field by the CBI organization in the upcoming week.