Box Score
ASU faced a much taller team in the Panthers that had a lineup of 6-10, 6-9, 6-9 and 6-8 on the floor that caused the Hornets trouble the whole game. ASU trailed by 17 (52-35) with 12:14 left in the game before making a run that cut the lead to eight points at 62-54 after a Maurice Strong free throw with 4:47 left in the game.

"They were big, extremely big," Head Coach Lewis Jackson said. "At times though we were our own worse enemy and fighting them was more than enough."

"We cut the lead down to seven or eight points and we had four or five empty possessions where we could not get anything going. We took bad shots and had turnovers and when you're playing a team that is this big and has veterans on the team you have to make good decisions and often times we didn't do that in the second half."

That free throw would be ASU's final point as UWM scored the final five points of the game for the final 13 point decision.

Waters was the lone Hornet in double digits as ASU finished the game shooting 36 percent (20-57) from the field. ASU did not get to the free throw line as many times as UWM but did hit nine of their 13 attempts for 69 percent.

Brandon Graham finished the game with nine points and Terrance LeFlore came off the bench to score eight. Maurice Strong contributed with six points and a team-high nine rebounds.

After being out rebounded by 10 in the first half, ASU came back and won the second half rebounding battle 14-11. Overall UWM collected 40 rebounds and ASU 33.

ASU (4-5) held UWM to 27 percent shooting in the second half and 40 percent (22-54) for the game. The Panthers were strong at the free throw line hitting 16 of their 20 attempts (80 percent).

UWM (10-4) had three players averaging in double digits entering tonight's game and those three hit double digits again. Kyle Kelm had a game-high 24 points and Austin Arians, who hit five three pointer field goals finished with 17. Matt Tiby scored 14. Kelm and TIby both stood 6-9 and each had double-doubles in the game with Kelm grabbing 12 and Tiby 11.

"You know our defense did a much better job in the second half," Jackson said. "We held them scoreless for several minutes why we made our run until they were able to get to the free throw line."

The Hornets struggles with the Panthers height showed up early in the game as UWM used that height to consistently get the ball inside and work from there as they shot 58 percent from the field. With ASU working so hard to keep the ball from getting inside, UWM had open looks from beyond the three point line where they hit five of their 10 attempts.

Waters led ASU's scoring efforts in the first half with nine points and Brandon Graham added seven.

Kelm had 15 first half points and also had eight rebounds as UWM out rebounded ASU 19-9 in the opening half.

"This team is growing and if we can learn from the mistakes we made tonight in our next outing and try to be better I will feel pretty good about it," Jackson said.

ASU will take a few days off to spend with their families during Christmas, but will be back on campus later in the week. The Hornets will host Auburn Montgomery Saturday Dec. 28 at 3 p.m.