On a night when the perimeter game wasn't clicking for the Michigan Wolverines,
senior big man Courtney Sims stood tall. The 6-11 center teamed with
frontcourt mate Brent Petway to carry the Maize and Blue to a 66-59 victory
despite a lackluster first half.
The scoring fortunes initially looked bright for the home team. Petway and
Sims helped get the Wolverines off to a quick start, scoring the first two
buckets on a game opening 8-0 run. UW-Milwaukee soon countered, though,
thanks to their long range marksmanship (5/7 from deep in the first half). Three-point
baskets by Kevin Massiah and Paige Paulsen sparked a 10-2 run for the visitors
that tied the score at 10 with 15:18 left in the half. The brisk scoring
pace slowed down after that, but the Wolverines still managed to push the lead
back to six at the 8:55 mark on a Dion Harris lay-up. However, the tide
turned when Petway was hit with two fouls ten seconds apart, forcing him to
head to the bench. The Panthers capitalized on the absence of Michigan's
energizer, outscoring the Maize & Blue 15-7 down the stretch to take a
27-25 lead into the halftime locker room.
With the offense clearly not clicking on all cylinders, the players knew that
more energy and hustle would be required in the second half if they were going
gut out the victory. "We had to be tougher," Petway said regarding
the improvement his team needed to make in the second half. "They
were getting all the loose balls. That is something we pride ourselves on --
being the toughest team and winning the hustle, and they were kind of beating
us on that. We had to get defensive boards and give those little bumps. If
somebody blocked a shot, we had to be the team to go get it. We knew we just
needed to get tougher for the last part of the game."
The Panthers opened up the second half with a 7-2 run to build their largest
lead of the game (34-29), but Petway and Sims stepped forth to answer. The
post tandem scored four points apiece on a 12-0 run that put the home team
up 41-34 with 13:06 remaining. UW-Milwaukee would threaten again, cutting
the lead to one with just under ten minutes to go, but they would never regain
the lead. Sims simply overpowered the Panthers down the stretch, scoring
14 of his 20 second half points to close the half. The Boston native
led all scorers with 26 points to go along with 10 rebounds. He was joined
in the double-double club by Brent Petway, who finished with 13 points and
11 boards.
"I just did not want to lose," Sims said regarding his determined
effort. "In the past we went through some stuff, like losing to
Boston University and how that affected is making it into the tournament. I
thought about that at halftime and really did not want to lose. I just wanted
to do whatever I could so I would not have any regrets tomorrow. I missed a
few shots in the beginning that I would usually make and we were not getting
rebounds. Brent (Petway) picked it up on the glass and was in foul trouble
for much of the game. He played clutch and had some big blocks and that really
helped us."
For more on the game, click the following links: Boxscore, Notes, Quotes.
The Wolverines will hit the hardwood again Friday night when they take on
Harvard. Tip-off is scheduled for 7:05 PM at Crisler Arena.