INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. – A scoring run of 16-2 in the middle of the second half flipped the contest around and the Milwaukee men's basketball team secured the win from the free throw line in the final minute to claim an 82-75 victory over Northern Kentucky in Monday night's semifinal at Indiana Farmers Coliseum.
The Panthers (20-14) used a big second half to take control against the defending-champion Norse (18-15), overcoming a 15-point deficit from late in the first half to earn a spot in the 2024 Barbasol Horizon League Championship Monday night. As the No. 6 seed, Milwaukee will be the lowest to make an appearance in the title contest since Cleveland State made it as the No. 8 seed in 2017-18.
"First of all, we talked a lot about Northern Kentucky and the job they do year-in, year-out," head coach
Bart Lundy said. "I have the utmost respect for Coach Horn and their program – we knew that we had a huge task ahead of us. Rocky first half. We really regrouped at halftime and I thought we came out much tougher."
BJ Freeman scored 22 of his 27 points in the second half, helping the MKE offense flip the script and take over down the stretch. The Panthers shot 54.8 percent (17-of-31) after intermission and kept up the rebounding edge to finish with the substantial 50-28 advantage on the boards on the night. Freeman extended his run of 20+ point efforts to 10 on the evening, tying the school record set in 1990-91.
Faizon Fields was just as big, finishing with 16 points while tying his career-high with 16 rebounds. Fields scored 14 of his 16 after intermission and played a huge role on both ends of the court as the Panthers turned a 51-45 second-half deficit into a 61-53 lead courtesy of that back-breaking 16-2 run, which culminated with a layup by Freeman with 9:53 remaining. Fields made 7-of-12 shots from the floor, adding three blocks to his sixth double-double of the season.
"Faizon was huge," Lundy said. "It seemed like every big rebound that we needed, he got it. And then when he got the ball inside, there were a couple of times we were wondering if he was going to lay it up and then all of a sudden, he was dunking it. We have to get ready for Oakland, hopefully these guys can get some rest tonight."
The team went 9-of-12 from the line in the final 60 seconds of the contest to earn the victory and head to the championship game for the eighth time in school history.
Kentrell Pullian chipped in 10 points, five rebounds, and three assists, going 5-of-6 from the line.
Trey Robinson finished with a career-high 33 points for the Norse, adding nine rebounds. The MKE defense held Marques Warrick, who game into the game third in the league at 20.4 ppg, to just four points on 2-of-16 shooting, going 0-for-5 from three-point range.
Things did not start well, as the Norse jumped out to leads of 9-2 and 20-10 before MKE found a bit of a stop and was back within four on a
Dominic Ham three at 20-16.
Northern Kentucky kept up the pressure and forcing turnovers while also making shots, building its advantage back to 29-18 after a 9-2 run with just under eight minutes remaining. The deficit hit as many as 15 at 36-21 after NKE scored seven straight. Milwaukee started to right the ship there, scoring 10 of the final 12 points of the period to get back with seven at the break at 38-31.
The Panthers shot 45.9 percent (28-of-61) from the floor for the night and held NKU to under 40 percent (.391/27-of-69).
With the win, Milwaukee is set to battle Oakland in the 2024 Barbasol Horizon League Tournament Championship contest Tuesday. Game time is set for 6 p.m. CST on ESPN.
