Brock Stull led the Milwaukee men’s basketball team to a big win with 23 points in their return home yesterday from a tough road trip at the UW-Milwaukee Panther Arena against the Loyola Ramblers.
The 73-56 win serves as Milwaukee’s biggest win of the season next to the game against Iowa State, which the Panthers won 74-56 on the road on Nov. 13.
“You could put this win up there with Iowa,” said head coach Pat Baldwin.
Stull, UWM’s leading scorer, missed two previous games on the road due to a knee injury, but the junior guard’s knee – which was covered with a brace on Saturday – didn’t seem to be a factor in how he played against the 10-1 LUC.
“I feel great,” said Stull. “Obviously with the great outcome, I’m doing a lot better.”
Stull added six rebounds and a pair of assists to his 23-point night. Stull continued to dominate the scoreboard. Four of Stull’s 23 points were from deep. One three earned the Panthers a four-point play and another was a shot-clock buzzer at halftime.
“Brock allows us to play many different ways,” said Baldwin.
“He can be kind of a foot forward for us. He can handle the ball. He can post up some. He puts teams in a bind in how you want to guard Brock and our team. His value to us is immense, and I can’t overstate it or underscore it more than that.”
Three players – Stull, Bryce Nze, and Brett Prahl – were in double-digits for Milwaukee, as was the same for Loyola with Donte Ingram, Marques Townes, and Lucas Williamson scoring 13, 12, and 10 respectively.
Offense was the name of the game for the Panthers from the start and through the game. The Ramblers took an early timeout and many more in the first half while the Panthers built on a double-digit lead. The Panthers led by 17 by the half.
The Panthers stayed atop with an efficiency unmatched by the Ramblers. Milwaukee defense caused LUC to shoot just 21.1 percent from deep and 38.9 percent overall. Milwaukee offense produced close to 50 percent shooting overall and 40 percent from deep.
“Give our guys a lot credit tonight for 40 minutes,” said Baldwin. “I think our intensity level, our togetherness, and how we competed was at an all-time high. I can’t speak enough about our guys and how we play. This was a big win for us considering how we’ve played the last few games. I think a lot of it had to do with our numbers.”
Several players stepped up to play team ball to keep the lead going for the Panthers. Jeremiah Bell finished with nine points, Bryce Barnes added eight, and Jeremy Johnson scored seven.
LUC attempted to chop down on the lead until the clock ran out, but the Panthers held strong by their defense and could not stop shooting well. UWM led by as many as 20 points.
Milwaukee has a home stretch starting on Friday, Dec. 22 against Western Michigan. Tipoff is at 7 p.m.