Box Score

HONOLULU - Wisconsin-Milwaukee ran and pressed its way past Hawai'i, 87-81, Saturday afternoon, as part of ESPN's Bracket Buster Saturday series, at the Stan Sheriff Center. A "Green-Out" crowd of 8,024 watched as the Panthers snapped the Rainbow Warriors' 14-game non-conference home win streak.

The Panthers' (21-5) run and gun offense and pressing defense stymied UH's half-court motion offense into a season-high 21 turnovers. The 'Bows gave up a season-high 87 points and lost for the first time in 38 games when scoring 80 or more points.

Sophomore guard Matt Gibson led UH (14-8) with a career-high 26 points, his second consecutive 20-point game. He was a perfect 6-of-6 from 3-point range to tie a UH single-game record for 3-point percentage, which was set by Jake Sottos earlier this season. Senior Jeff Blackett added 12 points, while Sottos and Bobby Nash chipped in with 11 a piece.

Guard Ed McCants scored a team-high 20 points on 7-of-21 shooting for UWM. Forward Adrian Tigert was a perfect 6-for-6 from the field, including 4-of-4 from 3-point range, and added 19 points.

"They're a good basketball team," UH head coach Riley Wallace said. "They out-hustled us on the boards. It was a winnable game for us but we didn't match their intensity. They got us playing their game and prevented us from playing ours."

The Panthers controlled the pace of the game from the outset. UH managed to take and early 14-8 lead through the game's first eight minutes. The 'Bows continued to hold a lead until Tigert's third trey of the half put the Panthers on top 26-25 with 3:52 to play. UWM stretched its lead to four after a Jason McCoy dunk and took a two-point lead into the half.

Tigert came out shooting in the second half with seven straight points as the Panthers built a 41-32 advantage. UH answered back with a Sensley lay-up and Sottos trey but consecutive 3-pointers by McCants pushed the Panther lead to 47-37.

Another McCants trey gave the Panthers a 50-37 cushion before the 'Bows used a 10-3 run to cut the deficit to six. The Panthers answered back just as quickly, pushing the lead to 14 after a McCoy putback dunk gave UWM a 68-54 lead with under 10 minutes to play.

Hawai'i rallied back once again with a 12-1 run to close to 69-66 with 6:34 left. The Panthers responded with buckets by James Wright and Joah Tucker to take an insurmountable 74-66 advantage. UH would get no closer than the final margin.

Both teams shot the ball extremely well in the second half at a 55 percent clip.

The 'Bows return to Western Athletic Conference play by hosting UTEP, Monday, Feb. 21. Tip-off is set for 7:05 p.m. at the Sheriff Center.

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