Milwaukee Panthers’ Men’s Basketball Team Takes First Loss at Home

Anticipation filled the area as Patrick Baldwin Jr.’s name was announced. The air was taken out of the arena when the Panthers started out slow committing 15 turnovers in the first half due to a stifling full-court trap that Eastern Kentucky was running.

The Panthers lost their home opener homecoming game last Saturday 77 to 71 to Eastern Kentucky in an uphill battle. The Panthers’ record is now (1-1) after this loss at home.

The injury-ridden Panthers only had starting forward, Tafari Simms for five minutes because of a lingering groin injury and did not have starting guard, Jordan Lathon, due to a hip flexor injury. Donovan Newby and Vin Baker Jr. stepped into those roles for this game.

The scoring output came from only three players scoring double digits. Coming off the bench, guard, Josh Thomas led the team scoring 23 points on an 83% field goal percentage. Deandre Gholston scored 22 points and Patrick Baldwin Jr. scored 19 points.

“I think it’s important to be aggressive when those opportunities come,” said Patrick Baldwin Sr.

Coach Baldwin expressed his want for his complementary players to make plays. Baldwin Sr. said that Thomas went out and made those plays happen and took the opportunity. Baldwin Sr. said that the team will get in the film room and see how they can get those complementary players to be more aggressive.

The highly touted NBA prospect, Baldwin Jr. got the Panthers running out of the gates with a 3-point jumper and another tough jumper in the lane. Baldwin Jr. was defended well for the rest of the half after the quick five points from the NBA-level talent.

“They were doing different things that I felt forced us into a lot of uncomfortable situations,” said Baldwin Jr.

Baldwin Jr. was held to just five points in the first half. Baldwin Jr. said that the Colonel’s played man to man the whole game and that was something the team did not want.

Later into the first half, Thomas took over on the offensive end finishing multiple chances at the rim consecutively, keeping the Panthers afloat.

“I’m 100% a sore loser,” said Thomas.

Thomas did not bask in the glory after his great performance. Thomas said that he felt that the team had prepared enough but did not execute. Thomas felt that he and the team did not do enough.

The Colonel’s press was too much for the Panthers. Late into the first half Baldwin Sr. made the switch to let his son, Baldwin Jr. take the ball up after Newby had committed two fouls.

“I think it’s not seeing a press like that,” said Baldwin Sr.

Coach Baldwin felt they had the right plan in place but lapses in judgment could have been due to nerves.

During Halftime, UWM honored members of the Panther Athletics Hall of Fame. Cheryl Berkley (volleyball), William Krueger (track & field/cross country), Emily McClellan (swimming) Marc Mitchell (basketball) and Jerry Augustine (baseball) were all showered with applaud.

Coming out of halftime the Colonels went on an 11-2 run. It was not until five minutes into the second half that the Panthers scored again. The Colonels at one point lead 60-35.

Baldwin Jr. and Thomas both came out of the half on fire. Both stuck to what they do best. Baldwin Jr. hit a litany of jumpers, while Thomas kept hammering his way to the bucket getting himself to the free-throw line several times.

The 22-9 run helped get the Panthers back into the range of possible winning the game. The Panthers cut the lead to 69-57 halfway into the second half.

“Josh is extremely valuable to our team,” said Baldwin Sr.
Baldwin Sr. said that the way Thomas plays helped him be an asset to the game plan. Baldwin Sr. said that in a game like this where you need extra ball handlers and attackers Thomas is extremely valuable.

The game started to turn around when the Panthers had multiple good defensive possessions. With nine minutes left in the game, Thomas had a block that got the crowd back into it. Moses Bol and Baldwin Jr. had two more blocks with about 8 minutes left in the game.

From this point on the Panthers only allowed 6 points for the rest of the game. The Panthers also cleaned up their turnover problem by the end of the game with the adjustments that they made at halftime. The Panthers committed only committed 4 turnovers in the whole second half.

The game had become a stagnant battle with the Panthers inching closer. Gholston Contributed with getting to the free-throw line at the 7-minute mark and with jumpers going in coming off of passes from Newby.

Baldwin Jr. and Thomas did not slow down either. Baldwin led the way in the rebound category. By the end of the game, Baldwin Jr. had collected 11 rebounds. Thomas also hit a crucial jumper with 4 minutes left to cut the lead to 75-65.

Gholston scored the last 6 points for the Panthers. This was not enough to make the game a single-possession game.