UW-Milwaukee headed to conference championship game on home court
By Mark Concannon
FOXSportsWisconsin.com
March 5, 2011
Playing before its biggest home crowd of the season, Milwaukee beat Valparaiso 70-63 Saturday night in the Horizon League semifinals. The top-seeded Panthers will host 2nd seed Butler Tuesday night in the championship game at U.S. Cellular Arena with the winner earning a ticket to the NCAA tournament.
"It's great to see the 'Cell' rockin," said Milwaukee coach Rob Jeter of the highly partisan crowd of 7,431. "It's great to see the fans and the city excited."
The Panthers prevailed in a physical battle with the Crusaders. Valpo was in foul trouble throughout the evening. Milwaukee attempted 36 free throws while the visitors shot just 9 times from the stripe.
"They're just tough," Jeter said. "They beat you up in a positive way. I'm just proud our guys hung in there."
Valpo took an early 6-3 lead as guard Erik Buggs raced past the Milwaukee defense to score in transition. He had 6 of the Crusaders' first 8 points.
The Panthers went on a 16-5 run. Tony Meier, who finished with 15 points, hit back-to-back 3-pointers as Milwaukee led 19-11.
The Crusaders countered with a 19-6 run led by the outside shooting of Brandon Wood, who went on to score a team-high 24. Valpo enjoyed its biggest lead of the night, up 30-25 with 5:32 left in the half.
Milwaukee made the last run before intermission, an 11-2 spurt, as Tone Boyle's three tied the game at 32. Boyle and Anthony Hill each hit two free throws, giving the Panthers a 36-32 lead at the half.
A key sequence happened just over three minutes into the second half. Valpo's Cory Johnson was called for his 4th foul holding Hill under the basket. Crusaders coach Homer Drew was hit with a technical foul for protesting the call. Meier hit both technical foul shots to put the Panthers ahead 41-38, a lead they would never relinquish.
The Panthers started what turned out to be the decisive run four minutes later. Milwaukee led 49-47 when Kaylon Williams, who Jeter calls "our quarterback" and Hill, a first-team all-league power forward took command of the game.
"Right when you need 'em," Jeter said. "You have to make big plays."
Williams hit back-to-back threes, putting the Panthers ahead 55-47. "I told coach, "clear it out, let me get it, let me get it,'" Williams said. "I know I can do it. I'm not just a passer."
"When he hit those two big threes, that creates a long distance wall for us, " Drew said.
Hill, who led the Panthers with 24 points and 11 rebounds, then scored in the paint and got fouled, a three-point play giving Milwaukee a 58-49 advantage. Hill wore down Valpo inside. The two players who guarded him were foul-challenged throughout. Johnson would foul out. Kevin Van Wijk drew four personals.
"I just wanted to stay aggressive inside," Hill said.
Meier's 3-pointer put the Panthers up 61-51 at the eight-minute mark, but Valpo did not go quietly.
"We never quit. We kept fighting," Drew said. "We didn't play our best, but we never stopped hustling."
Wood hit two jump shots and Buggs followed with a layup to cut the lead to 64-60 with just over two minutes left. The Panthers struggled to move the ball and would not score a field goal over the last 4:14. Williams missed a layup with 1:47 remaining, but Ryan Allen grabbed a critical offensive rebound. Boyle, held to just two-of-nine from the floor, then missed from outside, but Hill got a second offensive rebound. Meier was fouled by Buggs, made both free throws to extend the lead to 6 with 1:10 remaining, and the Panthers were never in trouble after that.
Milwaukee's defense, a major reason for the team's emphatic midseason turnaround, held Valpo to 34 percent field-goal shooting in the second half. The Crusaders converted just 6-of-29 3-pointers.
It was the 10th straight conference victory for Milwaukee, now 19-12 overall, which continued its improbable run into the postseason. The Panthers will host Butler, last year's national runners up, a team they beat twice during the regular season. The Bulldogs defeated Cleveland State 76-68 in Saturday's first semifinal.
"I had a chance to glance at some of the shirts the students were wearing," Jeter said. "They said, 'Yes sir.' And yes sir, we're playing on Tuesday."
"It's a great atmosphere," said Hill, a Milwaukee native who played at Bradley Tech. "It's a wonderful feeling to be at home. Playing here for the championship Tuesday night, I just can't put into words what that means to me."
After the game, Jeter went into the stands and hugged his family, including his mother who Jeter says, "doesn't come to many games, even when my dad (the late Bob Jeter, former Packers defensive back) was playing." Jeter hopes his extended basketball family, the sports fans of Milwaukee who are now more frequently including the Panthers in their daily conversations, will turn out in even bigger numbers for Tuesday's championship game.
"Let's enjoy this moment," Jeter said. "Let's do this together. It was a journey to get to this point. I'm hoping everyone will come out and share the moment with us on Tuesday."
