The Panthers were again lead by senior forward Anthony Hill who had 24 points and 11 rebounds (four offensive) last night and moved into the Horizon League tournament championship game where they will face Butler. They also got 15 points from sharp-shooting 6-8 forward Tony Meier and 16 from JUCO transfer Kaylon Williams.
Valpo was lead by Brandon Wood who had 24 himself but didn't get much from anyone else. UWM held Valpo's Ryan Broekhoff to just 1 of 11 shooting and did a good job containing their 3-point attack. The Crusaders were also only 5-9 from the charity stripe where as Milwaukee was 24-36 and made their last five to clinch the victory in the burning embers of the game.
The Panthers were trailing by five at one point in the first half but never seemed fazed as they regained the lead before half and never looked back. Valpo closed the gap to 64-60 with 2:02 to go in the game but the free throw shooting of Milwaukee was pure from then on.
It's really amazing to see this team now from where they were after they got beat handily by this same Valpo team back on January 21st. They said during last night's broadcast that after that game, coach Rob Jeter talked to the team for two and a half hours about what the goals of the team were for the year and the team responded. The Panthers rattled off wins in their last nine Horizon League games and their only blemish since then was a non-conference tilt against Buffalo in an ESPN "BracketBusters" game.
I think the senior leadership of Anthony Hill and Tone Boyle can take this team into the Big Dance. I really like what the Panthers have with not only those two guys, but also Tony Meier who is capable of doing a lot of damage on any given night.
The only thing that makes me apprehensive about our team going forward is their lack of depth. Outside the starting five of Boyle, Hill, Meier, Williams and sophomore guard Ja'Rob McCallum, the Panthers only other player in double figures for minutes last night was Ryan Allen. You tend to get that from most mid-majors but they're going to need another guy to step up off the bench if they want to beat a Butler team that is possessed right now.
After not being able to attend last night's game, you bet I'll be in attendance on Tuesday and I hope to see everyone else there as well. Tickets are on-sale on campus starting today for $10 with student ID.
Let's help get the Panthers' ticket punched.
-Mitch
