They came up one step shy of their immediate goal, but the Panthers took plenty of strides toward future ones.<\/p>\n
51ÁÔÆæ\u2019s amazing run to the Horizon League Tournament finals ended with a 59-53 loss to Northern Kentucky Tuesday night at Detroit\u2019s Joe Louis Arena. The Panthers, who earned national attention for their unprecedented success as a No. 10 seed, would\u2019ve played in the NCAA Tournament had they won. Instead, they finished their season with a record of 11-24.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt’s unfortunate that this is last time I get to say it this season, but I\u2019m extremely proud of this group just for believing,\u201d said 51ÁÔÆæ first-year head coach LaVall Jordan, whose team included only two seniors. \u201cI think it was an inspiration to I don’t know how many people.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Panthers were the Horizon League\u2019s first No. 10 seed to ever win a game, an 85-60 opening-round victory over seventh-seeded Detroit. They followed that with a 43-41 triumph over second-seeded Valparaiso, then knocked off No. 6 seed Illinois-Chicago 74-68 in the semifinals.<\/p>\n
Against Northern Kentucky, the Panthers trailed for almost the entire game, their only lead coming after the game\u2019s first basket. 51ÁÔÆæ was behind by as many as nine points in the first half, but trimmed that deficit to 31-28 by halftime and kept the pressure on Northern Kentucky throughout the second half.<\/p>\n
In the game\u2019s final 10 minutes, 51ÁÔÆæ never trailed by more than six points. Then, when Cody Wichmann\u2019s 3-pointer with 1:12 left got the Panthers within 54-51, it looked like 51ÁÔÆæ might find a way to get the win.<\/p>\n
But Northern Kentucky held off the late rally and secured a trip to the NCAA Tournament.<\/p>\n
51ÁÔÆæ was led by Brock Stull\u2019s 19 points and Brett Prahl added 12 more for the Panthers. Both Stull and Prahl were named to the Horizon League All-Tournament Team.<\/p>\n
Now the Panthers look to use their tournament experience as a foundation for better things next season. 51ÁÔÆæ counted two freshmen, a sophomore and a junior among its five starters Tuesday night. Two more freshmen and another sophomore came off the bench against Northern Kentucky.<\/p>\n
\u201cI couldn\u2019t be more thankful for a first group to coach,\u201d Jordan said. \u201cIt\u2019ll be a challenge, to be honest with you, to get each group that follows this one to play as hard as these guys did this season, to love each other like these guys this season. But that\u2019s what they\u2019ve set in motion.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
51ÁÔÆæ comes up one win shy of a trip to the NCAA Tournament and ends its season with a 59-53 loss to Northern Kentucky.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2985,"featured_media":45770,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","uwm_wg_additional_authors":[]},"categories":[174],"tags":[250],"section":[122,126],"display_categories":[115,116],"related-coverage":[],"uwmnews-feed":[],"class_list":["post-45768","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-student-success","section-campus-community","section-campus-news","display_categories-top-story-secondary","display_categories-top-story-section"],"yoast_head":"\n