Milwaukee's season has been careening toward disaster for the last several weeks, but today, a massively entertaining victory over Green Bay at a relatively packed Panther Arena may have jump-started a late season resurgence- if not to an HLT title, at least to a recovered bit of respectability after nearly dropping to last place before today's win and the win over IU Indy last week that featured an incredible 23-point homecoming show put on by Chandler Jackson.
The teams today, on this unseasonably beautiful sunny afternoon in Milwaukee, were nearly evenly matched in the box score with the exception of free throws turnovers (the Phoenix did shoot better overall (52%-42%), but Milwaukee shot better from 3pt (47%-42%) and FT (81%-78%).
Milwaukee feasted a healthy 30-37 from the free throw line while Green Bay attempted less than half as many, sinking 14-18 charity shots.
Green Bay (15-13, 10-7) played a relatively clean game with just 11 turnovers, but Milwaukee (11-17, 7-10) played an even cleaner brand of basketball and protected the ball like a family member to the tune of just 6 turnovers.
Green Bay led Milwaukee by around 5 points for the vast majority of the contest, but in the final two minutes, Milwaukee finally seized the edge and grabbed a lead that they didn't relinquish but for a brief possession, as the teams traded 3s, bonus foul shots and And1s for a good chunk of the late second half.
Highlight reel dunks by Faizon Fields and Sekou Konneh punctuated Milwaukee's storm of a comeback- when this Panther team clicks, they are a joy to watch.
Admittedly, the officiating was pretty chippy, but head coaches need to keep their cool and Green Bay's coach could not keep a lid on his pot of boiling frustration.
Doug Gottlieb was called for an inopportune technical which cost Green Bay two vital points in the closing minutes, and a furious Panther defensive stand closed out the victory over the Phoenix, 75-72, bringing balance and order back to the universe with a Milwaukee victory over our northern neighbors and adding some real jet fuel to this reignited Horizon League rivalry.
Chandler Jackson (23pts, 6reb, 8-8 FT) led the way with Stevie Elam adding 11 points (5reb, 6-6 FT). Marcus Hall poured in 32 (5-8 from 3pt) for the Phoenix but it was ultimately negated by the late-game Panther clawback.
The announced attendance of 4,363 (bolstered in large part to a party of 1,000+ but still- a massive crowd today) was far and away the biggest crowd of the season at Panther Arena, completely dwarfing all of our previous "fun-sized" '25-'26 home crowds of between 1,000-2,400.
The energy in the beloved Arena brought back nostalgia and both showed newer Panther fans and reminded older Panther fans just how magical games at the Arena can be when the competition is fierce and Panther fans are out cheering on the Black and Gold in full force.
Milwaukee will face Detroit and Oakland on the road this coming Friday and Sunday before the final regular season game of the year back at Panther Arena against Youngstown State on the night of Wednesday, February 25th.
The Panthers should avoid the HLT play-in game and instead look to be positioning themselves for the most favorable HLT 1st Round road game against a team like Robert Morris, Fort Wayne, Detroit, or- which would be the most interesting series of events- Green Bay.
That final regular season game versus Youngstown State may turn out to be more competitive, consequential and electric than we'd have thought just- this morning.
go panthers.
press on. 🏆🏀
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