Gone are the memories, gone are the struggles through hard times and gone are the seniors. With the first game of the Horizon League Tournament came the last game for three seniors who were part of a slim University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee men’s basketball team roster.

Seniors Allan Hanson, Paige Paulsen and Marcus Skinner, who battled an injured lower leg to put in 12 minutes, all saw their last shining moments as Panthers in the 57-51 loss to Loyola at the U.S. Cellular Arena last Tuesday night.

With that loss, though, head coach Rob Jeter saw the future of Milwaukee basketball. Ricky Franklin put up 17 points in the first round of the Horizon League Tournament while Deion James posted 14 points.

The Panthers saw all nine eligible players on the court, Kaylan Anderson was out with a knee injury, but they couldn’t pull off a win in order to advance. The Ramblers kept the senior group to just 11 points between all three, but on the other side the Panthers let J.R. Blount, of Whitefish Bay’s Dominican High School, tie his season-high with 23 points.

“J.R. Blount is a very good player and I don't know if anybody has had an answer for him this season,” said Jeter.

The first half was about as slow as any team could possibly start. Each team shot under 40 percent from the field in the first half as Loyola took a two point lead, 19-17, going into halftime.

Paulsen was held scoreless in the first half and the Panthers did held Blount to just four first half points, but the second was a completely different story.

With Skinner out the entire second half, the Panthers looked to their bench to find height who could compete with Rambler big men Andy Polka and Tracy Robinson, but what Jeter found was freshmen Anthony Hill and Jason Averkamp. They young men combined for only six points and seven rebounds, allowing Loyola to get 40 points in the paint.

"A lot of credit goes to Loyola. Shooting 50 percent for the game tells it all," said Jeter. “This time, clearly, we were just a half-step behind."

Both teams were back-and-forth down the stretch despite the stats. In the final 10 minutes of play the Panthers were down three points at most and were ahead or tied six different times. Free throw shooting, which had been their strength in the regular season, did the Panthers in as the allowed Loyola to attempt 18.

"We were a little careless down the stretch," Franklin said. "There was some overdribbling and just not good communication on some of the passes."

A three-pointer by Averkamp with 1:00 left cut the lead to one but four missed threes in the last 20 seconds set the Panthers up for elimination. Jeter subbed in Skinner just to sub out all the seniors on their last night with 5 seconds left and it was all but done from there.

"Skinner wanted to play tonight and I knew he would give us toughness around the basket, but could he play with the explosiveness he plays with?” asked Jeter. “He couldn't do that and I didn't want him out there, being half the player he has been all year. But I did want him to finish the game on the floor because he didn't have that on Senior Night."

Milwaukee will have nine returning players coming back, two being Joe Allen and Brad Carroll who sat out this season. Jeter has already put together part of his freshmen class by getting letters of intent from two high school players in James Eayrs of Roseville, Minn. and Riley Walker of McFarland, Wis.

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