MILWAUKEE – BJ Freeman scored a career-high 31 points and the Milwaukee men's basketball team put together a brilliant second-half performance in claiming an 81-72 victory over Cleveland State Saturday night at UWM Panther Arena.
 
"It was two completely different halves," head coach Bart Lundy said. "We knew we kind of had to weather the storm with their pressure in the first half. We were pretty shaky with the ball, but guys kept us in there – BJ made a bunch of hard shots, especially early. We were able in the second half to get shots and that was the difference. They got a little tired and I thought when their pressure subsided a little bit, we got in the lane and started getting more of what we wanted offensively."
 
The Panthers (20-10, 14-6 Horizon League) outscored the Vikings (19-12, 14-6 Horizon League) by a total of 50-36 in the second half to earn the victory, wrapping up the regular season in second place. Not only was it the team's best finish in the league standings since the 2010-11 campaign, but comes after the program was picked to finish ninth in the Horizon League Preseason Poll.
 
Freeman connected on 8-of-17 field-goal attempts and added a 12-of-13 showing at the free throw line for his second 30-point outburst of the winter, adding eight rebounds and three assists to his season-high (31) point total.
 
On a night when the program honored the 2002-03 team that was the first to earn a bid to the NCAA Tournament, Milwaukee recorded its eighth 20-win season in the school's NCAA Division I history. Just 12 months after going 10-22, head coach Bart Lundy has the team at 20-10 overall and headed into the postseason. It was a perfect ending to an evening on which the team celebrated the seniors on the roster as well.
 
"It was a great team effort – so happy for the seniors who go out on a win," Lundy said. "They have meant a lot to us. The best word is I appreciate Mo (Moses Bol), I appreciate Vin (Vin Baker Jr.), and I appreciate Ahmad (Ahmad Rand). In each of their ways, they have given a lot and sacrificed a lot for us to get to this point."

Ahmad Rand added his first double-double of the campaign, finishing with 12 points and 11 rebounds, while also adding four more blocks. Included in that was back-to-back rejections of CSU slam dunks at the start of the second half. Justin Thomas added nine points, seven rebounds, four assists, and three steals.
 
CSU was led by a pair of double-doubles, seeing Tristan Enaruna post 24 points and 11 rebounds, while Tae Williams added 21 points and 11 rebounds.
 
The first half was one-sided at the start for the visitors, leading 8-0 en route to a 36-31 halftime advantage, ahead by as many as eight in the closing stages of the first half. The second half was a different story and went MKE's way quickly.
 
Freeman put the Panthers back on top at 42-41 on a steal and fastbreak layup, part of a 17-5 overall run which saw the home team take control and build a 53-46 advantage on a three-point play from Angelo Stuart.
 
Back-and-forth for a bit, a pair of Thomas free throws grew the lead to double-figures for the first time at 59-49 and Rand capped an 8-0 spurt with a thunderous dunk that pushed the lead to 63-49 with 8:14 to play.
 
Milwaukee grew its advantage to as many as 14 at 72-58 with three minutes to go before the Vikings would make a final push, but a 7-for-8 showing from the line over the final 1:40 iced the impressive victory.
 
The Panthers ended the night at 42.1 percent (24-of-57) from the floor, making 77.8 percent (28-of-38) of their free throws. The team won handily despite 23 turnovers that were used to take just an 18-11 advantage in points off turnovers. The defense showed up all night, holding the Vikings to 37.8 percent (28-of-74) from the floor overall and a miniscule 15 percent (3-oif-20) from three-point range.
 
Up next is the Barbasol Horizon League Championships, with the Panthers having earned a first-round bye courtesy of their second-place finish. The team will play host to quarterfinal round action at the Klotsche Center next Thursday, set to get underway at 7 p.m., playing the second-lowest remaining seed from Tuesday's first-round action.