Furious second-half rally comes up just short as UW-Milwaukee loses to Southern Miss

The UW-Milwaukee Panthers remain very much a work in progress.

How close are they to putting it all together? That depends on your outlook.

The glass-half-empty crowd would point to a terrible first-half performance on Saturday afternoon that left the Panthers in a 15-point halftime deficit while the glass-half-full crowd would point to the team's inspired play over the final 12 minutes that whittled what was a 23-point deficit to two with 1 minute 41 seconds remaining.

There would be no storybook finish, however, as UWM couldn't manage to draw any closer and ultimately fell to Southern Mississippi, 90-84, at the Klotsche Center.

"We were an unconfident bunch going into this," said coach Bart Lundy, whose team entered on the heels of a last-second victory over Siena on Tuesday. The Panthers are now 3-4 in a season in which big things are still expected -- most notably a strong showing in the Horizon League.

"There's no moral victories. I think we got some confidence coming out of this. I don't really think we're anywhere close to what we can be, anywhere close to where we can be. We've got to be really good in March, and put ourselves in a really good position going into March.

"Part of this has been our scheduling issues; we've had to go all around the country. We've fought through sickness and injury and the travel and the time changing. Southern Miss was a hungry team. They came in here with their backs against the wall. We played like that in the second half.

"Maybe it's hit our guys -- 'OK, we've got to turn this around.'"

BOX SCORE: Southern Mississippi 90, UWM 84

With just over 14 minutes to play, the Panthers were on their way to their largest home loss in nearly two years.

But once Lundy began employing the press the tenor changed quickly and UWM began cashing in turnovers and quick misses by the Golden Eagles into points on the other end.

Scores on seven consecutive possessions pulled the Panthers to within 11 points with 7:36 remaining, and a flurry of three-pointers -- one each from BJ Freeman, Kentrell Pullian and Elijah Jamison -- made it a two-possession game at 80-74 with 3:23 left.

After the teams exchanged free throws, Faizon Fields hit a pair for UWM. Then, the Panthers converted a turnover into a Freeman layup that made it 82-80 and again furiously hounded the inbounds play, onto to see the Golden Eagles throw clear over the top and slam home an alley-oop dunk on the other end.

Southern Mississippi hit six straight free throws the rest of the way to put the wraps on its first victory over a Division I opponent in five tries this season.

"When we should have, when we cut it to a one-possession game, taken that press off," Lundy said. UWM shot 55.9% in the second half but allowed 56% shooting itself over the final 20 minutes and 50.8% for the game. "They got the alley-oop dunk. But we had just turned them over, so I got a little greedy with it.

"We had a lot of shots there at the end to cut (the lead) and make it more interesting. But you can't put yourself in that kind of hole."

Pullian scored 13 of his team-high 21 in the first half while Fields had his biggest game yet with 17 points (9 for 11 free throws) and six rebounds. Jamison added 16 points and Freeman 14.

Lundy gave Markeith Browning II his first start of the season at point guard, and in 33 minutes he delivered nine points, three rebounds and six assists but turned the ball over five times as well.

Erik Pratt, who had been serving as the backup point guard to Jamison, didn't play due to a coach's decision.

And Lundy said transfer Pierce Johnson, who was expected to shoulder a lot of the floor general duties, has had shots in his injured knee but no surgery to this point. It remains unclear if he'll be able to contribute this season.

"I thought Keith did a good job for his first time. And then, that Elijah that came off the bench was pretty good. So, maybe Elijah woke up a little bit and started to realize, 'Hey, I've got to run this team. I've got to play better.'"

The individual star for both teams was Southern Mississippi guard Donovan Ivory, who poured in a career-high 32 points on 10-for-17 shooting that included a 6-for-10 effort from behind the arc.

A Kaukauna native, Ivory had a large and vocal fan contingent on hand that enjoyed his performance.

"He came in here averaging (5.1) points a game and he gets 32," said Lundy. "Every time we made a run, he made a huge shot."

UWM now faces a three-game road trip that starts Saturday at UW-Green Bay, the Horizon League opener for both teams.

"It doesn't get much easier," said Lundy. "But nobody's going to feel sorry for you, and we've got to keep getting better. But that team in the second half, I thought that's what we would be from the start of the year. And I would say that's the first time I've seen that team in a game.

"So, hopefully we can build on it."

UWM women 84, Central Michigan 59

The Panthers knocked down a season-high 17 three-pointers and placed four players in double figures in scoring to roll to victory over the Chippewas in the first half of an on-campus doubleheader for both UWM teams.

Anna Lutz scored a career-high 23 points, knocking down 5 of 6 threes, to lead the way while Angie Cera added 19 points (4 for 6 from beyond the arc), Kamy Peppler 15 (3 for 7) and Kendall Nead 11 (3 for 7) as the Panthers rattled off their fourth straight win after opening the season 0-3.

"Obviously, when the ball goes in the net like it did tonight, you have a little more pep in your step going into the next practice," said coach Kyle Rechlicz. "After our last game we had a conversation about energy, and how that can't change depending on the opponent that we're playing, and that's probably what I was most proud of today."

UWM dropped its Horizon League opener against Illinois-Chicago on Nov. 12 and will receive a test next time out as it hosts preseason conference favorite UW-Green Bay at 7 p.m. Thursday.