The Panthers defeated Cleveland State 79-67 on Thursday in their Horizon League opener while improving to 5-0 at home. Milwaukee scored the final 10 points to seal the win.
The Panthers hosted the Vikings in the Panther Arena to open up the month of December. This was their first time meeting since Feb. 14 with the Panthers winning over the Vikings 71-68. Entering today’s match up Cleveland state is 4-5 and Milwaukee is 5-4 in the Horizon League, Milwaukee was picked as the league favorite in the official preseason poll.
This was a huge game for the Panthers going into the conference and coming off of a two-game losing streak while on the road. Last week’s match up against Southern Miss. ended in a close score of 66-65. The following week against University of Central Florida 84-76.
“It’s huge, we talked about that before the game,” said head coach Bart Lundy. “They play a lot of basketball, it’s a tough one to open up with so winning this one not only to start good but to get this win against Cleveland State was huge”.
Jamichael Stillwell put up his fifth double double of the season with 12 points and 15 rebounds. Themus Fulks joined with 16 points and 5 assists, and AJ McKee adding on an additional 13 points.
The first half ended with Milwaukee leading 36-35 – Stillwell with 9 rebounds and 2 assists and Kentrell Pullian leading with 15 points.
“Our pace in the first half wasn’t as good as we’d want, we talked about it at half time” said Lundy. “ Themus came out and really his pace getting into offense was way better, then the possessions got better.”
Going into the second half of the game Cleveland State started off strong, making the first three baskets to take the lead 41-36. Cleveland State’s Tevin Smith led their team with 17 points. Not long after the Panthers got their groove back to take the lead 49-43.
Milwaukee held the lead but allowed Cleveland State to catch up with two minutes left in the second half with the score being 69-67. Darius Duffy answered with a killer dunk followed by a block shortly after.
Rebounding and free throws secured the win for Milwaukee, finishing with 28-for-37 in free throws and a 41-to-24 rebound advantage. Kentrell Pullian was the star player of the night, leading the team with 24 points.
“Yeah that’s a really good win… they made life difficult for the rest of the night” said Lundy. “Nineteen offensive rebounds and making free throws is what saved us, won the game for us”.
The Panthers finished with 44.2% of their field goals compared to the Vikings’ 47.4%
Milwaukee is back on the road next week to take on Green Bay on December 11 at 6 p.m.