It’s been no secret that the Milwaukee Panthers have not caught many breaks this season. Even though almost every team will sustain injury problems throughout the course of a season, Milwaukee has dealt with it more significantly than most. This was the case even before the Panthers lost another starter in Amar Augillard during their regular-season finale against Youngstown State.
UWM still beat YSU to move up to the No. 8 seed, but having to travel to No. 3 seed Detroit Mercy to face a Titans team that it lost both games against in the regular season series was going to be a tall task, especially now being even more short-handed than the team was before. It is March however, and significantly crazier things have happened in this beautiful month.
It was all Titans on Wednesday night.
The Panthers started with a 5-2 lead after an early three from all-freshman team selection Stevie Elam, but after back-to-back UDM buckets by all-league third-team selection TJ Nadeau and senior forward Legend Geeter, Detroit Mercy took the 6-5 advantage. The Titans never trailed again.
The home team promptly stretched out the lead to 15-5, but Milwaukee fought back with five-straight points from freshman Josh Dixon and another three from Elam to cut it to 19-15 with just less than nine minutes left in the first half. The Titans responded by going on another scoring run — this time a 19-4 run to take a 36-19 lead with two minutes left in the half. UDM held a 38-24 lead at the halfway point.
Detroit Mercy kept its foot on the gas coming out of the break, using a three from redshirt freshman Tyler Spratt and an and-one from all-league first-team selection Orlando Lovejoy on consecutive possessions to take its largest lead of the game to that point at 47-26 with 17:36 left. The lead never dipped below 19 for the remainder of the night, as the Panthers couldn’t string together any type of run, and the two teams seemed to simply trade buckets until the final buzzer sounded. The Titans secured a 84-63 win to advance to the semifinals in Indianapolis.
When Lovejoy and Geeter checked out of the game in the final minutes, they were met with standing ovations from the biggest crowd the team had played in front of at home all season. Both being seniors, the last game they played in Calihan Hall was a memorable one.
Geeter talked about what he was feeling following the game.
“It feels amazing, man. Knowing that this was my last game in Calihan, it’s tough, but we just got to focus on the next game and go win the tournament,” Geeter said.
Detroit Mercy displayed balanced scoring for the entirety of the night, ending with five players in double-figures. The team was paced by Nadeau who had 17, Spratt added 15 and Lovejoy had 13. Both Geeter and London Maiden finished with 12 with the latter going a perfect 5-for-5 from the field.
Even though four starters scored in double-digits, head coach Mark Montgomery still got 22 points from his bench, which was a stark contrast from their regular season finale against Oakland where the starters scored every point but two.
One player that may not have stood out from a scoring standpoint, but continues to make as big an impact as almost anyone is Ryan Kalambay. Even though the sophomore big man only finished with five points, he hauled in a team-high eight rebounds and added three blocks.
This is nothing new for Kalambay though, as he’s been making an instrumental two-way influence all season. After the win, he talked about how he’s been able to play into his role effectively.
“I’m always just trying to have a positive effect [when I’m] on the court. We have offensive firepower positions one through five, so I try to do whatever I can.”
Spratt’s growth over the course of the season should also be mentioned. Even though his talent was never a question, he didn’t play a single minute in his redshirt season at Cleveland State — and after a super slow start — he had to remain patient. The patience paid off though, as the Farmington, Michigan native ended the regular season as an all-freshman team selection and played a big-time role in helping the Titans get to where they are now.
Spratt said his goal this season was to help UDM make a playoff push and redefine the teams culture.
“When I first came here — in my first interview — that’s where I said I was going to help bring us back to and help change the culture. This is a blessing and it came to fruition.”
For Milwaukee, it ended the game 23-of-62 (37%) from the field and went 5-for-22 (23%) from three. The Panthers were led by their freshmen off the bench, as Sekou Konneh had 13 points and nine rebounds, while Josh Dixon added 12 points. Junior Chandler Jackson was the only other scorer in double-figures with 12. They finish the season 12-20.
Head coach Bart Lundy talked about the lows of the game and gave the Titans credit on what they were able to do.
“We got good looks early and couldn’t make them. Give Detroit [Mercy] credit. They were more physical and finished with more force than we did. The depth and the size was an issue and this has been the worst match-up for us,” Lundy said.
He also spoke on the perseverance that he saw from his squad throughout a season filled with obstacles.
“The wheels could have fallen off. We lost four of our leading scorers and still kept it together. We won three of the last five [games] to end the regular season. Credit to the character of this group and our seniors that kept the team together. We just have to grow from this.”
Moving forward to next week, the job is far from over for the team from the 313. The No. 3 seeded Titans will play in the Horizon League tournament semi-finals for the first time since the 2012-13 season. They’ll take on the No. 2 seed in Robert Morris after the Colonials defeated Youngstown State in their first-round game.
Detroit Mercy is 0-2 against RMU this year, and Montgomery spoke on what his team must do to go get a win next Monday and advance to the conference championship game.
“Going off the last loss to them, our turnovers were costly,” Montgomery said. “We have to take care of the ball. You know, it’s a big stage for our guys. We haven’t been there and of course Robert Morris won it last year. To win, we also must defend and rebound. Then, step up and make some shots. I have confidence we’ll be able to do that.”
Round three between the Titans and Colonials will take place March 9 with a 9:30 p.m. tipoff inside Corteva Coliseum in Indianapolis.
The game will be available to watch on ESPN2 and will be the second of the two semifinal games taking place on Monday.
Enjoyed this article? Help keep HoriZone Roundtable going.
👉 Donate here: https://horizoneroundtable.com/donate
👉 Join us on Patreon: https://patreon.com/horizoneroundtable
Subscribe to our emails, and get our latest posts in your inbox, plus a weekly digest of everything we've published!
