Although the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee’s men’s basketball team lost Thursday night in overtime against Detroit, 91-84, the Panthers are showing true improvement.

UWM shot 47.5 percent from the field, this season’s best. UWM junior Avery Smith led the team in points with 32, which is also the second highest of his career. Junior Allen Hanson scored his collegiate high of 19 points.

This was a big win for Detroit and the first time UWM lost in Calihan Hall since the 2001-’02 season. When the game was tied at the end of regulation, head coach Rob Jeter gave a personal shout out to Smith.

“It’s simple,” Jeter said. “We were going to put the ball in Avery’s hands, set a ball screen and if they help, maybe he can pitch it back. He did an unbelievable job drawing little contact, getting past a guy and finishing on the play.”

As the Panthers fought their way up to tie the game, Hanson and senior Kevin Massiah scored the points that tied the game, forcing overtime.

“We move the ball in our offense so that different opportunities are going to pop up for different guys,” Jeter said. “It just so happens that some guys didn’t have as many opportunities. It’s a team game and a team effort, and the fact that we were down and able to come back and we had different guys scoring, I think that shows more maturity from other guys that they were ably to step up and make some shots.”

Even though the Panthers displayed a lot of skill and strength, it doesn’t seem to be good enough for the team.

“We want to win games,” Jeter said. “We didn’t win the game so now we have top get back to the drawing board and get ourselves ready for the nest opportunity.”

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