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UWM Nips the Ramblers

2/01/03
by John C. Thomas
The UW-Milwaukee Panthers out-shot the Ramblers in their only visit to Chicago. Loyola won the battle of the boards, and the Ramblers shot 32-of-37 at the line. But the Panthers hit on 46% of their three-pointers and controlled the tempo in their 92-91 win over the Ramblers Saturday afternoon.

In the first 88 seconds of the game, the Panthers carved an 8-0 lead. But the aggressive Panthers got into foul trouble while the Ramblers slowly got back into the game. UWM led 27-19 with 8:18 left in the half. But Loyola tied it at 36-all with 1:36 left in the first half. The Ramblers went ahead 38-36, but UWM tied the game on a disputed basket on a shot that barely beat the :35 second shot clock. That was the way the half ended.

Loyola scored the first two points of the second half, but UWM went on a 16-9 run over the next 7:50 to race out to a 64-49 lead with 11:31 remaining in the game. The two teams traded baskets over the next several minutes until Loyola closed the gap to 74-67 on a Demetrius Williams dunk with 5:01 left to play.

Loyola cut a 16-point lead to six when Kevin Clancy hit a three-pointer to make it 89-83 with :47.9 left to play. Clay Tucker hit two free throws to make it 91-83, but Loyola hit a three to cut it to 91-86 with 29.3 left. With 21.8 left to play, UWM led 92-88. The Panthers missed two free throws, and Loyola made a three pointer to cut the gap to 92-91, but a long inbounds pass and a good shot from 65 feet at the buzzer gave the victory to UWM.

Unlike the past, it's no shame to lose to UWM by one point at home. The Panthers controlled the game, and they brought two bus-loads of rabid students to propel them to optimum performance.

But Loyola had many chances to win. The UWM basket at the buzzer beating the shot clock at the end of the first half was questionable, the lane violation by Paul McMillan was stupid, and Derek Huff pushed Demetrius Williams in plain sight of the referees-something that should have been a technical foul, and something that I believe would be a technical foul if it had happened the other way.

Clay Tucker led all scorers with 36 points on 5-of-10 shooting from the three point line, and Dylan Page supported him with 11-of-13 shooting from the field for 22 points.

David Bailey led Loyola with 33 points. Demetuius Williams added 22 points and a game and career-high 21 rebounds. Two other Loyola starters had double-digit points.

On the plus side, Loyola is in every game. On the minus side, we seem to lose every argument except for the game at UW-Green Bay, where we might have had the least to complain about.