Milwaukee, Cleveland State Improve to 2-1 in #HLMBB Play

#HLMBB Scoreboard (Jan. 8)
Milwaukee 84, Oakland 75
Cleveland State 73, Detroit 63

Milwaukee and Cleveland State each improved to 2-1 in Horizon League men's basketball play, with the Panthers collecting a road win in their first conference trip to Oakland, while the Vikings captured their conference home opener.

Milwaukee 84, Oakland 75
Five Panthers scored in double figures as Milwaukee overcame a slow start to claim an impressive 84-75 win over Oakland Wednesday night at the Athletics Center O'rena.

Milwaukee (12-5, 2-1 Horizon) found itself in an 11-0 hole to Oakland (6-12, 1-2 Horizon), which was 65-10 in its last 75 home games. Shooting 50 percent from the floor, the Panthers would eventually lead by as many as 20 points in the second half before hanging on for the win.

Steve McWhorter sparked the Panthers in the first half with 15 points and wound up with 17 points, nine rebounds and seven assists. Matt Tiby and Kyle Kelm added 15 points apiece, with Tiby also contributing 10 rebounds. Austin Arians and Cody Wichmann each added 13 points, with Wichmann posting a new career high.

Perhaps the biggest key in the game was the job Jordan Aaron did on the Horizon League's leading scorer, Travis Bader. Aaron took the lead on guarding him and limited him to seven points, forcing him into 0-of-9 shooting from the field.

The Panthers recovered from an extremely slow start to carry a four-point lead into the halftime locker room. Oakland scored the first 11 points of the game as Milwaukee turned the ball over five times. But McWhorter sparked the Panthers back into the game, scoring four-straight to make it 13-7 and then adding another five in a row to trim the deficit to just 15-14.

Milwaukee took the lead for the first time at 19-18 on a Tiby layin and eventually went up 26-22 on a McWhorter three with 7:20 remaining.

Oakland did bounce back to reclaim a handful of two-point leads, including a 38-36 advantage late in the half. But the Panthers responded with the final six points before the break to lead 42-38.

The Panthers put their foot on the gas early in the second half, going up 46-38 on a Tiby layin just 90 seconds in before pushing the edge all the way out to 58-46 on a Arians three with 13:30 remaining.

Milwaukee wasn't done, though, going up 67-49 on a Wichmann layin with 9:50 left and then establishing its largest lead of the night at 69-49 on a Kelm free throw with 8:47 left.

UWM then steadily hung on from there, even though the Golden Grizzlies cut into the lead. The Panthers still led by 14 with 5:20 to play and never let Oakland get closer than the final margin of nine.

Milwaukee returns to the U.S. Cellular Arena Sunday, hosting Green Bay in a 2 p.m. ET contest that will determine the early conference lead.

Cleveland State 73, Detroit 63
Jon Harris and Sebastian Douglas combined for 32 points off the bench as Cleveland State took a 73-63 victory over Detroit at the Wolstein Center.

Cleveland State (10-7, 2-1 Horizon) collected its fourth win in its last five games. Detroit (8-9, 1-1 Horizon) fell to 2-7 on the road in dropping its first conference road game of the season.

Harris made all seven of his shots from the field, finishing with 18 points, six rebounds and three assists. Douglas continued his torrid pace with 14 points, a career-high tying five assists and four rebounds.

Douglas hit 6-of-8 field goals, improving his season field-goal percentage to 64.9 (61-of-94). He is 34-of-42 (81.0 percent) from the field over the last eight games.

Anton Grady added 15 points and eight rebounds, missing his third straight double-double by two rebounds. Charlie Lee dished out nine assists, one off his career-high and the most by a CSU player this season, while Marlin Mason finished with eight points, five rebounds and three blocked shots.

The Vikings dished out a season-high 25 assists, one shy of tying their season-high, on 26 baskets, while committing a season-low six turnovers. CSU turned 14 Titan turnovers into 21 points. Cleveland State's 96.2 assist-field goal percentage is the highest in college basketball this season.

CSU led by 15, 58-43, with 11:26 to play, but saw the Titans pull within 60-51 with 7:53 left. The teams traded baskets, but a three-pointer from Anton Wilson ignited a 7-0 Titan run as Detroit pulled within four points, 64-60, with just over four minutes to play.

Grady answered with a layup and the teams traded baskets until a Harris jumper from the baseline pushed the CSU lead back to seven, 70-63, with 1:30 left. After a defensive stop, Grady hit a pair of free throws to extend the lead to nine points with 33 seconds left.

CSU hit 17-of-24 attempts from the free throw line.

Both teams struggled from the floor in the early going, combining to make just one of the first 10 field goals, but CSU used a Trey Lewis three-pointer to start a 10-2 run that gave the Vikings a 13-4 lead seven minutes in on a Harris three-pointer.

Four straight points by Detroit brought the Titans back within five, 13-8, but Harris capped a 9-0 run with a dunk and two free throws as CSU's lead grew to 22-8 with 7:48.

The Viking lead reached as many as 15 points, 31-16, with 4:00 to play in the first half on a pair of free throws by Mason before CSU settled on a 37-27 halftime advantage.

Cleveland State committed just one first half turnover and held the Titans to 8-of-22 shooting with eight turnovers in the opening stanza.

The Vikings are back in action on Jan. 13) when CSU travels to Youngstown State for a 7:05 p.m. contest. The game will be televised on the Horizon League Regional TV package.