What was an improbable comeback for the Cleveland State men's basketball team turned into an equally improbable 86-84 loss at Milwaukee before 3,643 Tuesday night at U.S. Cellular Arena.
The Vikings, in losing their third in a row, had bounced back off the deck from a 16-point deficit midway in the second half to tie the game at 84-84 on a breakaway layup from senior Jeremy Montgomery with 40 seconds left.
The Panthers, who improved their Horizon League record to 9-7 with the win, seemingly failed to break the tie on their next possession, missing three shots but getting the ball back on an out of bounds play with 1.9 seconds remaining.
While most prepared for overtime, the game had a sudden end when Milwaukee's Tony Meier took the inbounds pass and was fouled by CSU freshman when Meier tried a desperation 3-point with 1.1 seconds left.
Meier, who tallied 15 points and was one of five Panthers in double figure scoring, then hit the first two of three free throws to push the Vikings 1-1/2 games behind front runner Valparaiso (12-4) which survived an upset bid by Illinois-Chicago (3-12) with a 74-65 win at home against the ninth place Flames.
Milwaukee, 16-12 overall, led the game 50-41 at intermission, and seemed to have control of the game when Paris Gulley, who scored 17, hit a 3-pointer with 8:44 left to put the Panthers up 75-59.
But the Vikings, who fell to 10-5 in the HL and 20-7 oveall with the loss, and just about saw their hopes of hosting the league tournament extinguished, fought back behind a variety of players and key foul shooting down the stretch.
Most of the night, it was a tale of Milwaukee doing it at the foul line, going to the charity stipe early and often, hitting 33-for-40 and at one time making 27-of-30.
But in the final seven minutes, the Vikings went 8-of-9 from the opposite line to help cut into the large Panther lead that was keyed by James Haarsma, who led Milwaukee with career best 25 points that included a 5-fo-7 night behind the 3-point line and being perfect on eight free throws.
Cleveland State got much of its early offense from senior Trey Harmon, who had a career-best 27 points, hitting 8-of-14 from the field and 4-of-8 3-pointers and making 7-of-8 free throws. His previous career-best was 24 points on three occassions.
But in the end it came down to the last foul committed by the Vikings, who were whistled 27 times and saw junior Tim Kamzcyc, freshmen Mason and Anton Grady foul out and have seniors Montgomery and Aaron Pogue end the game with four fouls each.
While CSU had 15 points from Montgomery and 10 from Grady, freshman Charlie Lee, a Milwaukee native, played his first college game in his hometown and didn't disappoint. He scored 14 points while not missing a shot. Lee hit all five field goals including a 3-pointer and made all three of his free throws.
Besides the career-best 25 from Haarsma, 17 from Gulley and 15 from Meier, the Panthers also got 13 from Kim Kelm and 12 from Kaylon Williams in splitting the season series with CSU after the Vikings took an easy 83-57 decision at the Wolstein Center.
Cleveland State, now hoping to hold on to the second seed that brings with it a double bye and a spot in the tournament semi-finals, return home to host Drexel at 11 a.m. Saturday at the Wolstein Center in a Bracket Buster game.
Drexel, located in Philadelphia and a member of the Colonial Athletic Association, is 22-5 with a 14-game win streak and is tied for the top spot in the CAA with George Mason at 14-2.
The Dragons, who began the season losing four of five, last lost on Jan. 2 at Georgia State. Derxel, which has never met CSU, has three players averaging in double figures led by Frantz Massenat at 13.7 an outing. He is closely followed by Damion Lee (12.0) and Samme Givens (11.6) while knocking on the door of double figuers is Chris Fouch (9.6).
Givens leads in rebounding for the Dragons at 7.5 a game while Daryl McCoy is in at 6.9 a contest. The Dragons go with seven players who will give head coach James Flint at least 20 minutes on the floor.
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