• Panthers find their power animal

    Somewhere between Austin Arians' third and fourth three-pointer, the fans at the Klotsche Center woke up from their two-and-a-half month hibernation. The Klotsche Center was Krazy once more.

    In a game that would be best described as one of those where everything goes right at the same time, Rob Jeter's Milwaukee Panthers finally broke through the lulls and took a decisive victory over the Cleveland State Vikings, 69-57.

    Despite the Panthers shooting 19 fewer shots than CSU, they made the extra pass on enough possessions to tally 19 assists.

    "19 assists. We haven't had that many in the first three League games combined," coach Jeter said in the post-game press conference. Milwaukee had an especially good game by Jordan Aaron, who had 11 assists to just three turnovers. His game facilitated the play of other players, who were much more active on the offensive side of the ball than they've been all season, leading seven scorers.

    Paris Gulley put up a power forward-like 17 points and eight rebounds, but the two players that stole the show were Austin Arians and Ryan Haggerty.

    For much of the game, Arians couldn't miss from distance. He made the right move to give him just enough space to pop off a wide-open three on many occasions, but his tenacity on defense negated his admittedly lacking quickness and for most of the game Jeter couldn't find a reason to put him on the bench.

    Haggerty was the same Ryan Haggerty he's been all year, with the added bonus of hitting all five shots he took from the field, including the three-pointer that got the ball rolling for Milwaukee. If you ask Haggerty, though, the big difference for Milwaukee was communication.

    "It's amazing how much communication can fix some of the little things," Haggerty told reporters following the game. That communication let the Panthers avoid getting trapped offensively, which cut down on turnovers.

    Milwaukee shot 12-for-25 from beyond the arc, something that has escaped the team that has relied on the outside shot for much of Jeter's tenure. Six of those three-pointers came from Arians and Haggerty, who led the Panthers to 31 bench points combined.

    Jeter went with a lineup change at 9-4, when he went with a lineup of Austin Arians, Paris Gulley, Jordan Aaron, Ryan Haggerty and JJ Panoske - the successful lineup led to a 19-9 run. Demetrius Harris and James Haarsma came in after that, and the Vikings kept the Panthers to just two points for the final seven minutes of the first half.

    The good part of that was the defensive prowess of Panoske, Arians, Haggerty and Harris, who each had big defensive stops and loose ball scrambles to keep CSU from giving it a go.

    Milwaukee improved to 5-13, 1-3 in the Horizon League with the victory. CSU dropped to 10-9, 2-3 in the Horizon League, further muddying the waters in the young season.

    Injury notes: Despite not playing, Kyle Kelm's foot injury was not bothering him, it was a coach's decision...Bobo Niang is still out with the nagging back injury, and coach Jeter said that the staff was preparing as if they wouldn't have him for the rest of the season, even though the training staff has not indicated that as of yet.

    Up next: Milwaukee brings in Youngstown State on Saturday, the losers tonight in Green Bay, 67-58. Kendrick Perry led the Penguins with 21 points tonight and Damian Eargle added seven rebounds and two blocks, but the Guins dropped one to the host Phoenix. Cleveland State travels to Green Bay.