The Milwaukee Panthers men’s basketball team was narrowly defeated by Northern Kentucky, 67-62, on Saturday afternoon at Truist Arena. The Panthers, who represent the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee in NCAA Division I and compete in the Horizon League, cut a 13-point deficit to just one point in the final minute but could not attempt a shot on their last possession.
“Give them credit, they battled at the end,” said Milwaukee head coach Bart Lundy about Northern Kentucky. “But we had chances where we could have folded and we had a group that was really good defensively. We held them to 40 percent on their home floor. Turnovers were even … so we are doing some good things, it just wasn’t enough at the end. We didn’t make enough plays late, and I didn’t put them in good enough positions at the end for us to be able to come out on top.”
Chandler Jackson led Milwaukee with 11 points, while Aaron Franklin posted his fourth career double-double with 10 points and 10 rebounds. Josh Dixon also contributed 10 points, including a three-pointer that brought Milwaukee within one point at 63-62 with under a minute remaining.
“We all want to win, but almost more important at this moment is to fight with the ferocity that we did today,” Lundy said. “And to play with character – and I thought we did both of those things today. We are starting to find a formula if we can keep everybody healthy. Obviously, Faizon (Fields) is a big addition back in the lineup and we will continue to get better and put together a formula that can make us a dangerous team by the end of the season.”
Dan Gherezgher scored 22 points for Northern Kentucky. Donovan Oday added 10 points and made a key steal on Milwaukee’s final possession before securing victory with two free throws.
Milwaukee started strong, leading early before Northern Kentucky responded with momentum late in the first half for a halftime lead of 36-31. Foul trouble hurt Milwaukee’s effort before halftime.
“I thought we hurt ourselves in the first half with foul trouble – putting them in the bonus early and letting them stay in the game from the free throw line when we had the lead,” Lundy said. “And then second-chance points – most of their 3’s were on second or third shots.”
In the second half, after falling behind by as many as 13 points, Milwaukee rallied with a run capped by Jackson’s layup that narrowed it to one point again at 54-53.
Despite shooting better than their opponents—45.3 percent from the floor compared to Northern Kentucky’s 40.8 percent—and matching turnovers at eleven each, Milwaukee could not capitalize late in the game.
Both teams’ performances from three-point range were similar (.368 for Milwaukee/.357 for NKU), and rebounding was close as well (32-30 edge for NKU). However, Northern Kentucky converted turnovers into more points than Milwaukee.
The Panthers operate from Milwaukee, Wisconsin as part of University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee athletics through NCAA Division I competition via the Horizon League (official website).
Next up for Milwaukee is an away game against IU Indy scheduled for Tuesday at 5:30 p.m.
