NCAA Tournament hopes crash to halt
The slipper didn't quite fit.
Two wins away from an NCAA Tournament berth, UW-Milwaukee fell behind early and could never dig itself out of the major hole in a 93-80 loss to Cleveland State in a Horizon League Tournament semifinal.
The Panthers dropped to 21-11 after taking second place in the conference in the regular season. Those marks both greatly exceeded expectations in the first year under head coach Bart Lundy.
But they won't take away the sting from Monday night's loss at Farmers Coliseum in Indianapolis that came with the program's first NCAA Tournament berth in nine years within grasp.
From start to finish, the Panthers hardly threatened the No. 3 Vikings despite beating them twice during the regular season.
Cleveland State, which advanced to the final to face No. 4 Northern Kentucky after the Norse upset top-seeded Youngstown State, scored the game's first 10 points and never looked back. The Vikings went up 20-5 soon after and led by as many as 24 in the first half before taking a 46-28 lead into the break. The Panthers didn't get within fewer than 18 points under the eight-minute mark of the second half.
Tristan Enaruna scored 24 points to lead the Vikings, who had five players score in double figures and shot 49.3% from the field and hit 19 of 22 free throws as a team.
The offense for Milwaukee was much more disjointed, finding it challenging to score in the half. By the time the Panthers were able to force the Vikings into turnovers and generate some easy baskets, it was too late.
Jalen Johnson was the lone exception for Milwaukee, scoring 24 points on 10for-14 shooting while presenting a formidable challenge in the post for the Vikings. But leading scorer BJ Freeman could never get going and finished with 19 points while shooting just 7 for 23. All
Panthers except for Johnson shot just 33.3%.
Cleveland State scored a whopping 25 fastbreak points on top of another 11 second-chance points in the first half.
Milwaukee cut down on the turnovers and executed on offense before the defense could get set in the second half, upping its field goal percentage from 33% to 44.7%.
The full-court trapping defense of the Panthers forced enough of a challenge to at least make the Vikings sweat midway through the final period. After falling behind 73-49 with 9:54 to play, Milwaukee rattled off the next 12 points in just two minutes, 47 seconds and got as close as nine points with 6:07 to play on a pair of Freeman free throws.
A thunderous dunk as part of a three-point play by Cleveland State helped stem the tide for the Vikings, who last won the conference in 2021.