MILWAUKEE – The Milwaukee men's basketball team overcame a 14-point halftime deficit to force overtime but was unable to come out on top in falling to Youngstown State, 84-80, Friday night at UWM Panther Arena.
 
"When we were tough, playing together and playing unselfish, we were considerably better than Youngstown," head coach Bart Lundy said. "When we didn't, we were considerably worse than Youngstown. I thought in the second half we came out and played really tough – on the glass, defensively, we shared the ball better. There are no secrets in this stuff. You have to do the little things all the time."
 
The Panthers (14-14, 9-8 Horizon League) used a huge second half to get the contest to overtime, but fell behind the Penguins (20-9, 12-6 Horizon League) early in the extra session and were unable to dig out of the hole.
 
"When we got to overtime … the little tough things that you have to do to be a good team, we didn't do it," Lundy said. "It's my job to try and figure out how to get us playing tough from the start. How to get us playing tough throughout. It's all toughness. When we're tough, we're good – we're plenty good enough. We just slip into that 'not-tough' mode, and we don't have the margins to do that."
 
BJ Freeman led the way with 22 points, adding eight assists and four rebounds. Faizon Fields wrapped up the contest with a double-double of 13 points and 10 rebounds, while Kentrell Pullian was also in double-figures with 13 points.
 
Aaron Franklin returned to the court from injury for the first time since December 22, finishing with seven points and nine boards in 28 minutes of action.
 
Ziggy Reid paced YSU with 16 points, joined by DJ Burns who finished with his 19^th double-double of the campaign with 16 points and 10 rebounds.
 
Milwaukee overcame an ice-cold first half by digging right back in from the second-half tip, getting the first two baskets to re-establish momentum. The Panthers kept their foot on the gas, ripping off a scoring run of 15-4 to force a Penguin timeout down just three at 43-40 at the 14:29 mark.
 
The scoreboard was even again at 45-all on a tough layup from Fields and MKE was back ahead for the first time at 47-45, seeing Freeman cap the 22-6 run with a pair of free throws.
 
The rest of regulation was back-and-forth, with the lead changing hands eight different times. Youngstown State stayed just ahead down the stretch, seeing a pair of free throws from Pullian get his team within one at 66-65 with 32 seconds left and tied again on a great find from Freeman to Fields for a layup to knot the score at 67-67 with just 14 seconds left.
 
The Panther defense held a final time but was unable to find the winner to send the contest to OT. YSU then netted the first seven points of the extra period and the closest it got the rest of the night was two points on a three from Freeman at the 0:50 mark.
 
The Milwaukee offense finished the evening at 35.6 percent (26-of-73) and the defense limited the Penguins to 41.0 percent (32-of-78). The visitors hurt the Panthers with 52 points in the paint and 20 offensive rebounds they turned into a 28-7 advantage on second-chance points.
 
Up next, the Panthers wrap up the weekend with a home game Sunday, hosting Purdue Fort Wayne at UWM Panther Arena. Tip time is set for 2 p.m.