March 6, 2010
Contact: Brian McCann
INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. - Tim Kamczyc scored a career high 20 points to lead all scorers but it was not enough as the inury-riddled Viking men's basketball team dropped an 82-75 decision to fourth-seeded Milwaukee in a second round game of the Speedway Horizon League Championship in Butler's Hinkle Fieldhouse.
The loss ends CSU's season at 16-17 while Milwaukee advances to play top-seeded Butler on Saturday night (March 6) at 8:00 p.m. No. 8 Detroit will face No. 2 Wright State at 5:15 p.m. in the other semifinal.
"I have to commend my kids because despite all of the obstacles that were put in their path, they refused to quit and the played hard for 40 minutes," CSU head coach Gary Waters said. "Milwaukee came ready to play tonight and we just didn't make enough shots. Once they got ahead, it was very hard for us to make up ground.'
The Vikings played the game without starting forward D'Aundray Brown, who was named to the Horizon League All-Defensive team this year. Brown suffered a torn retina in his right eye in Tuesday's first round win over Loyola, requiring laser surgery on Wednesday.
Starting center Aaron Pogue played the contest with a soft cast over his left thumb, which he broke in practice on Wednesday. In addition, sophomore Trey Harmon, who has been slow to recover from a concussion that caused him to miss three and a half games, played just 16 minutes.
"We were just missing too many pieces tonight and Milwaukee was able to exploit us, especially inside. Any time they needed a basket, they simply took the ball inside to the heart of our defense and we didn't have an answer for it.
"We are going to fix things because this is the last time we are going to get to post-season and not have a full team. It isn't going to happen again," Waters insisted in the post-game press conference. "We will be back and tear things up next year."
Kamczyc, a former walk-on, was outstanding, going seven-for-10 from the field, including a three-for-five effort from three-point, and adding six rebounds to lead the Vikings. Norris Cole added 16 points, Jeremy Montgomery 15 and Lance James 13.
Ja'Rob McCallum and Anthony Hill led six Panthers in double figures with 14 points. Ricky Franklin added 13 points, Ryan Haggerty 12, James Eayrs 11 and Jason Averkamp 10.
Milwaukee led from start to finish, opening up a quick 8-2 lead. With the Vikings making 10 first half turnovers, the Panthers were able to lead by as many as 11 (20-9, 9:57) in the opening stanza,
CSU closed to within 35-29 early in the second half but Milwaukee's outside shooting awakened. McCallum knocked down three treys in a three-minute span and Franklin connected on a fourth as Milwaukee extended the lead to 50-35 (13:43).
The Panther lead would eventually grow to 62-42 with 9:55 left before CSU ran off nine straight points, to close to within 62-51 with 8:22 left.
The Viking would have several chances to draw closer, but each time they would pressure defensively, the Panthers would end up at the line. UWM was 22-for-33 from the stripe for the game, including 20-for-26 in the second half (.769).
CSU would close to with seven, 71-64 with 2:46 left, but a pair of free throws by Jerard Ajami and an Overkamp basket inside pushed the lead back to 11. CSU would get the lead back down to seven four more times, but never have the ball with a chance to pull even closer.
"It is hard to come back when you are down in this league," Waters said. "We had our chances, but there is very little margin for error and we made a couple of mistakes."
Montgomery made a pair of three-pointers in the game to finish with 69 treys this year, one short of the school record.
