The comeback youngsters did it once more.
Led by massive second halves from each BJ Freeman and Faizon Fields, the UW-Milwaukee Panthers earned themselves a spot within the Horizon League Event title recreation for the primary time for the reason that 2016-17 season by knocking off defending champion Northern Kentucky, 82-75, Monday night time at Indiana Farmers Coliseum in Indianapolis.
Freeman scored 22 of his 27 factors and Fields 14 of his 16 over the ultimate 20 minutes as UWM registered its sixth comeback from a double-digit deficit this season in successful its sixth consecutive recreation, the longest such streak for this system since February of 2014.
Field rating: UWM 82, Northern Kentucky 75
The Panthers (20-14) additionally reached 20 victories for the second consecutive season below coach Bart Lundy and can face top-seeded Oakland at 6 p.m. Tuesday for the convention’s computerized bid to the NCAA Event.
It will likely be the eighth journey to the title recreation for UWM, which final received the championship in 2014.
The Panthers used red-hot capturing – 54.8% – within the second half to flip the script on the Norse (18-15), who bought a profession 33-point recreation from Trey Robinson however solely 4 factors on 2-for-16 capturing from star Marques Warrick.
Milwaukee additionally hit 21 of 30 free throws (70%) in comparison with the Norse’s 12-for-15 effort and crushed on the boards, 50-28. Fields had a career-high-tying 16 to prepared the ground.
Freeman, who’d suffered by means of a depressing 2-for-11, five-point first half, woke up popping out of the locker room for the second half, simply as he had in main the best way over UW-Inexperienced Bay within the quarterfinals.
He scored the Panthers’ first 5 factors, after which Fields rattled off 9 straight together with his layup making it a 49-45 recreation with quarter-hour 2 seconds remaining.
Following a Norse layup, an Erik Pratt layup kicked off a 10-0 run that put UWM into the driving force’s seat.
A Langston Wilson layup gave the Panthers their first lead of the night time at 52-52 with 12:29 left. Then, a few minutes, later an emphatic two-handed dunk by Fields in visitors made it 59-53 and compelled a timeout by Norse coach Darrin Horn.
It did little good to stem the tide, nonetheless, as UWM primarily eschewed the three-pointer and as a substitute attacked the paint with abandon. The aggressiveness paid off repeatedly within the type of layups or free throws whereas on the opposite finish Northern Kentucky transformed on simply three field-goal makes an attempt in over 10 minutes.
A driving dunk by Freeman began a private six-point spurt for the junior wing and continued the theme for the Panthers, who then salted the sport away on the free-throw line.
Freeman hit 9 of 24 pictures and eight of 12 free throws in 32 minutes whereas Fields helped shift the momentum of the sport together with his excessive power within the lane. He hit 7 of 12 pictures.
Kentrell Pullian added 10 factors whereas all 10 gamers who noticed the ground for UWM discovered their method into the scoring column.
It was a a lot totally different recreation to begin for the Panthers as Freeman, coming off a monster 32-point recreation within the Panthers’ quarterfinal upset of Inexperienced Bay, hit simply 2 of 11 pictures and dedicated three turnovers in a five-point first half for him.
Turnovers have been the story of the preliminary 20 minutes, with the Norse cashing the Panthers’ 9 miscues into 18 factors.
UWM went 0-2 towards Oakland within the common season, shedding 100-95 on the highway on Jan. 4 and 91-87 in two overtimes at UW-Milwaukee Panther Enviornment on Jan. 27.
This text initially appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: UWM beats Northern Kentucky to succeed in Horizon League championship recreation