Feb. 8, 2003
MILWAUKEE (AP) - Clay Tucker scored 23 points and Dylan Page added 15 Saturday night, as Wisconsin-Milwaukee defeated Cleveland State 86-69 for its fifth consecutive Horizon League victory.
The Panthers (18-5, 9-2 in conference play) moved into second place in the league behind Butler (9-1), which defeated Illinois-Chicago 61-47 earlier in the day.
Jason Frederick added 12 points for the Panthers and Nate Mielke 11.
Pape Badiane scored 21 points and Jermaine Robinson 20 for the Vikings (7-16, 2-7), who lost their seventh straight game.
Tucker, a native of Lima, Ohio, scored 21 points before intermission to power the Panthers to a 52-35 halftime lead.
The Vikings, unable to challenge the Panthers in the second half, never got closer than 14 points in the final period at 81-67 on a Robinson layup with 2:42 remaining.
As the game began, Robinson's 3-pointer pulled the Vikings to within a point at 9-8, but the Panthers responded with a 13-4 run to forge a 22-12 lead.
Page started the scoring surge with a 3-pointer, Frederick ended it with another trey and the Panthers stayed comfortably in front the rest of the game.