MILWAUKEE – Stevie Elam led the way with 16 points in his return from injury and Josh Dixon added 14 but a strong finish to the first half by Northern Kentucky left the Milwaukee men's basketball team on the wrong end of an 85-67 decision Friday night at UWM Panther Arena.
 
The Panthers (7-10, 3-3 Horizon League) were not able to pull off their recent comeback magic against the Norse (13-5, 5-2 Horizon League), falling for the first time in five games in the all-time series.
 
"Give them all the credit – they were physical and tough and came up with every ball and outran us down the floor," head coach Bart Lundy said. "At halftime, they had 12 more transition points and 12 more second-chance points … it's going to be hard to win that way."
 
Elam, out since early December with a foot injury, picked up right where he left off. He played 24 minutes off the bench, scoring those 16 on 5-8 shooting overall, making half of his six three-point attempts. He also added a team-best seven rebounds.
 
Dixon went 7-for-12 from the floor to score his 14 and was joined in double-figures by Amar Augillard (11 points) and Aaron Franklin (10). Franklin's 10 points pushed his total to 1,000 over his collegiate career.
 
Kael Robinson led the visitors with his best offensive showing at NKU, scoring 29 points while tying the program record with nine made 3's, adding seven rebounds. Donovan Odey added 21 points off the bench.
 
"In the series over the last three years, I think we only lost once," Lundy said. "And you could tell they were really motivated to win this one. But that's what it's going to be. Green Bay was motivated, Northern Kentucky was motivated … doesn't matter if we are down bodies, doesn't matter what it is – if they get a chance to kick us, they will. But my hat's off to them, because they were by far the tougher team."
 
Milwaukee, already down two full-time starters to season-ending injuries, was again without the services of Faizon Fields and also saw Danilo Jovanovich play just 16 minutes when he left the court mid-game.
 
"Right now, we don't have enough size, we don't have enough physicality," Lundy said of the injury situation. "I would challenge anybody to take four seniors off their roster – and then Stevie (Elam) was our best freshman, and he's been gone four weeks – along with all of the other issues that we have had with guys back now. What we have on the floor now, they are talented, but most of those guys have not seen Division I basketball before this season."
 
Back-and-forth early in what was a fast-paced first half, the Panthers trailed by just three at 19-16 at the 13:12 mark. The Norse would go on a crucial run at that point, going 13-4 to lead 32-20. MKE was back within seven just minutes later but another run of 8-0 pushed the deficit to 55-35 and the home side could never recover.
 
A much better second half followed – with the teams scoring 30 points apiece – but the closest the Panthers would draw back in was 16 down the stretch.
 
"We came out the second half, and I thought that group, which was mainly freshman, played pretty well," Lundy said. "We're down to a very few number of players and the players that we have, basically, are young. We are going to have to work on some development and get these guys ready to play and perform better than we did tonight."
 
NKU finished the night at 44.6 percent (29-of-65) overall and made 14 3's (14-39/.359). Milwaukee shot a similar 44.6 percent (25-of-56) clip overall, but was outrebounded, 43-29. The visitors also held crucial advantages of 20-11 in points off turnovers and 28-11 on points in transition.
 
Up next, the Panthers remain at UWM Panther Arena, next playing Sunday when they host IU Indy. Game time is set for 2 p.m. against the Jaguars.