Panthers defeat Mocs to improve to 5-7

Milwaukee has a hill to climb but this season is very much still salvageable; the Horizon looms large...

Your Milwaukee Panthers finally put together 40 minutes of basketball and earned the biggest victory of the season, 85-83 over Chattanooga.

Milwaukee (5-7, 0-1) got out to an early 21-9 advantage and stayed ahead by about 10-12 points for most of the game. Entering the break up 33-23 the Panthers had outplayed the Mocs pretty thoroughly. Being up by 10 didn't seem like enough, but these Panthers will take any advantage possible in a season that has seen few reasons to cheer.

The Panthers won the battle of the boards, 50-44. We shot 37 free throws to the Mocs' 13. We did commit double the amount of turnovers our opponents did, but the overall effort made up for these offensive blunders.

Erik Pratt (29pts, 9reb) continued his emergence as the next big Panther backcourt scoring threat. Kentrell Pullian got his game back on track with a 26 point outburst that included 8 gutsy rebounds. Elijah Jamison handed out 8 assists and continues to be one of the few Panther passers (need more love for assists to go along with our newfound love of rebounding!).

FG          3PT        FT

41.3%   30.6%  76.9%

35.8%   32.4%  70.3%

But Chattanooga did not go down without a fight. Despite trailing all game, Chattanooga got back into the game around the under 10 mark, and kept chipping into our lead. They took the lead and we traded leads a handful of times in the closing minutes.

With just seconds left on the clock after a Tyler Millin three pointer to tie it, 72-72, Pratt actually ended the game in regulation with a deadly triple- but a timeout was called at the same time as his near buzzer-beating shot, Pratt's shot was negated, and our timeout-constructed end-of-game play didn't yield points. And so we went to overtime.

Overtime was a close battle, but Milwaukee prevailed 85-83 to get win #5 and close out the surprisingly brutal non-con portion of the '23-'24 schedule on a good note.

For the first time this season, the team did not wait around for anything to happen- they made their own juice, so to speak, and started to take control of their season a bit. With BJ Freeman back in the lineup sometime in early January, things could improve dramatically if the Panther chess pieces can fit and work together as a team again.

Learn to have fun again.

Let's hope today's game and its end result indicate a pivot to more success and a new season.

go panthers.