MILWAUKEE (November 6, 2006) – The Edgewood College men’s basketball team stuck with NCAA Division I opponent UW-Milwaukee during the first half of an exhibition game Monday night, but were overpowered in the second half as the Eagles fell by a final score of 77-53 at U.S. Cellular Arena.
“I am really proud of our effort,” said first-year head coach Todd Adrian. “We have such good chemistry, I don’t have to worry about us competing. Any time you can compete in this atmosphere it’s always good. We will use the experience and build on it and get better. I was disappointed that we couldn’t maintain, but everybody is new to the system and [UW-Milwaukee] put a lot of pressure on us.”
In the first half, the Panthers jumped out to an early lead when Ricky Franklin nailed consecutive three-pointers to give the Panthers a 17-8 lead with 12 minutes remaining in the first half.
Jon Ciche (Franklin, Wis.) did all he could on defense tallying two blocks on the Panther’s first offensive drive and totaled four blocked shots in the first half. The Eagles then mounted a strong comeback as Eddie Hebl (Brookfield, Wis.) cut the lead to six following a coast-to-coast layup off a Panther turnover.
The Eagles then narrowed the Panther lead to one following two Chris DeMarco (Appleton, Wis.) free-throws with under three minutes in the first half. With the Panthers up by four in the final seconds of the first period, Hebl drilled a spectacular jump shot at the buzzer bring the Eagles to within two going into the half.
The Panthers, however, returned the favor in the second half as they improved on there 9-for-27 shooting in the first half to complete 17-of-38 in the second half. Paige Paulson led the charge as he scored nine of his 11 points in the second half including a crucial three-point play with 11:52 remaining in the game to bring the score to 53-34.
DeMarco showed why he was a top basketball recruit out of Appleton-Xavier High School as he led the Eagles with 24 points, a career-high, which was helped by his 14-of-15 free-throw shooting. The Panthers top scorer was Ricky Franklin who scored 14 points, 12 of which came in the first half.
Following the game, Panther head coach Rob Jeter praised Edgewood for their efforts.
“We knew we had to respect the opponent,” Jeter said. “With a team that’s playing at this level of competition for the first time you have to expect excitement, and they had that. They have some pretty good ball players, they are a pretty good team and they played well.”
Jeter also joked about Ciche’s performance. Ciche finished with five blocks on the evening.
“I think the shot blocker was trying to set a record here in our arena tonight, he’s a pretty good ballplayer.”
Edgewood College will begin the regular season at home on November 17 with a Northern Athletics Conference match-up against Maranatha Baptist Bible College. Tip-off slated for 7 p.m. at the Todd Wehr Edgedome. Live audio can be heard by logging on to www.EdgewoodCollegeEagles.com or broadcast on Relevant Radio 1240 AM.
