No. 10 Milwaukee tops No. 6 UIC in semifinals

Paul Oren

DETROIT | Brock Stull had 17 points and 10 rebounds and No. 10 Milwaukee continued to make history with a 74-68 win over No. 6 UIC in the 2017 Horizon League Men’s Basketball Championship semifinals on Monday night.

The Panthers, who became the first No. 10 seed in Horizon League history to win a tournament game on Friday night, are now one step away from returning to the NCAA tournament for the first time since 2014. Should Milwaukee beat No. 4 Northern Kentucky on Tuesday night, the Panthers (11-23) would enter the NCAA tournament with the most losses of any team to ever make the field.

The Flames (15-18) jumped out to an early 8-4 lead, but Milwaukee rattled off an 11-0 run to take a 15-8 lead with 13:39 left in the first half. Stull knocked down two 3-pointers during the run and Jeremy Johnson added two layups. UIC battled back to take a 26-25 lead late in the first half, but Stull answered with his third 3-pointer to give the lead back to the Panthers and they never trailed again.

Milwaukee ran its lead up to 10 points on two occasions early in the second half, but the Flames gradually chipped away at the deficit before tying the game with under four minutes to play. After Brett Prahl and Dominique Matthews traded jump shots to tie the game 63-63, Milwaukee freshman August Haas knocked down a 3-pointer to give the Panthers a 66-63 lead and the Flames would never get closer in the final two minutes of the game.

Prahl and Wichmann, two players who were freshmen during Milwaukee’s last NCAA tournament appearance, had 15 points and four rebounds each. Matthews had a game-high 21 points for the Flames while Clint Robinson added 11 points and seven rebounds off the bench.