Milwaukee Holds Off Late Rally by Wright State

#HLMBB Scoreboard (Jan. 30)
Milwaukee 68, Wright State 64

Milwaukee 68, Wright State 64
A late rally by the Wright State men’s basketball team didn’t prove to be enough as the Raiders fell to Milwaukee 68-64 Thursday night at the Klotsche Center. Milwaukee led by as many as 20 points in the second half with five players reaching double figures on the night.

The Milwaukee (14-9. 4-5 Horizon) advantage grew to 47-27 as Austin Arians was fouled on a three-point attempt and connected on all three foul shots with 16:42 to play.  Wright State (13-11, 5-4 Horizon) cut into the deficit from that point, but the margin was still 10 until the Raiders tallied six straight points, the final four coming from Tavares Sledge, to make it 59-55 at the 4:19 mark.

Milwaukee pushed the lead back up to eight with a pair of baskets, but back came Wright State as a Jerran Young triple and a later three from JT Yoho drew the Raiders to within three at 64-61 with 1:08 remaining.

A pair of Jordan Aaron free throws at the 19.5-second mark made it a five-point game, but Yoho connected on another three with 12 seconds left to make it 66-64.

Wright State, though, would get no closer as two Kyle Kelm foul shots with 10.7 seconds left and the Raiders turned the ball over on their next possession.

Kelm and Aaron had 13 points apiece for Milwaukee. Arians and Malcolm Moore each added 12 while Steve McWhorter had 10 points and six assists.

Yoho led all scorers with 20 points off the bench, all but one coming in the second half as he made seven of 10 shots after halftime with three three-pointers.  Sledge, making his first start of the season, had 12 points and seven rebounds while Young had 10 off the bench.

The Panthers established their inside game from the get-go, as Kelm, Arians and Moore scored easy inside baskets as Milwaukee jumped to an 11-5 lead. The advantage hit 19-8 on an Arians hoops and extended all the way out to 25-9 when Arians buried a three-pointer with 8:30 remaining.

Wright State could never get the first-half deficit under 13, and a McWhorter three-point play made it 34-18 with 3:55 left. Milwaukee then led 38-23 at the break.

Wright State hit 15 of 27 shots in the second half for 56 percent, including four of seven three-pointers, as the Raiders shot 41 percent overall compared to 49 percent for the Panthers.  Milwaukee led 38-30 in points in the paint and 20-12 in points off of turnovers.

Milwaukee stays at the Klotsche Center to host Oakland Sunday. The Super Bowl Sunday game tips off at noon.

Wright State visits league-leading Green Bay Saturday night at 7:00 Eastern.  The game will be televised live on ESPN2.