Horizon League Semifinal Recaps
Detroit 61, UW-Green Bay 55
MILWAUKEE – Brandon Cotton scored 26 points for the University of Detroit as the Titans defeated the second-seeded University of Wisconsin-Green Bay Phoenix, 61-55, on Saturday, to advance to the Horizon League championship game.
The Titans (14-15) advance to the league’s title game on Tuesday night for the first time since 2001. Detroit lost 53-38 to the Butler Bulldogs that season, but reached the NIT Final Four.
The Phoenix (17-11) finish the season having lost five of its last six games. Green Bay is now 0-3 in league tournament games under coach Tod Kowalczyk, with the last two years coming off of byes.
Brandon Morris would lead four players in double figures for Green Bay with 17 points, with Josh Lawrence adding 13.
After the Phoenix held a 31-24 halftime advantage, it was Detroit’s defense that set the tone. The Titans took the lead for good with 5:19 remaining after a Cotton lay-up and stretched the lead to 53-47 with 56 seconds remaining. Green Bay would get to within two with nine seconds left, but a pair of free throws by Detroit preserved the victory.
“We’ve had a team that’s really has matured throughout the season,” Titans coach Perry Watson said. “We only play one senior and we had to start the season without Brandon (Cotton) because he missed maybe the first eight or nine games because of transfer rules.”
“So now you’ve got a great player that’s really a freshman that you’re trying to teach how to play and teach guys how to play with him.”
UW-Milwaukee 94, Loyola 76
MILWAUKEE – Joah Tucker scored a collegiate-high 31 points as the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee advanced to its third straight Horizon League championship game, following a 94-76 victory over Loyola on Saturday.
The Panthers (23-5) hit 62 percent from the field in the second half, much to the like of the 8,653 fans at the U.S. Cellular Arena – the fourth-largest crowd in UWM history. UWM also equaled its longest winning streak of the season at eight games and have won 16 of the 17 games.
Boo Davis scored 21 points for UWM, while Ed McCants and Chris Hill contributed with 14 and 11 respectively.
Senior DaJuan Gouard scored 29 points to lead the Ramblers (13-17). Blake Schilb, who scored 39 points against Illinois-Chicago in the quarterfinals on Friday night, was held to 12 points on Saturday.
“Joah Tucker probably doesn’t get the kind of credit and talk that he deserves,” UWM coach Bruce Pearl said. “He was the best player on the floor tonight and there have been a lot of games this year where that was the case. He was unstoppable.”
Ramblers’ first-year coach Jim Whitesell added, “I think you have to give Milwaukee an incredible amount of credit. That’s an awfully good basketball team. They were ready to play and they played a very, very good basketball game.”
The league championship game between the Panthers and the Detroit Titans will begin at 8 p.m. (CDT) on ESPN. The game will be played at the U.S. Cellular Arena where a sell-out crowd of almost 11,000 fans are expected.
