Charlotte Dashes postseason hopes to Milwaukee in CBI, 76-65

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. The Milwaukee men’s basketball team’s season that exceeded expectations on every level came to an end Monday night, falling to Charlotte in the quarterfinals of the 2023 Discount Tire College Basketball Invitational at the Daytona Beach Ocean Center.

The Panthers (22-12) went on a run in the second half against the 49ers (20-14), but were unable to close the gap, falling 76-65.

BJ Freeman led the offense and finished with 15 points. Markeith Browning II added 13 points, six rebounds and two assists Justin Thomas 9 points / 5 rebounds / 3 assists.

Brice Williams paced CLT with 25 points, including a hot start in which he hit the first five field goals and had 17 of the team’s 34 points at halftime.

The 2022-23 campaign ends for the head coach Bart Lundy, whose tenure at number one was a huge success. The Panthers went from 10-22 to 22-12, an improvement of 12 wins in just 12 months. The team won 20 games out of 11^th times in school history as well as the first time in 2015-16, and won the postseason for the first time in 17 years.

“Really proud of these guys,” Lundy said. “They gave everything to the program, the university and the city. I especially want to give credit to the seniors. Ahmad (Rand) coming in here as a walk-on, Moses (Bol), when he was healthy, was a game changer for us. And Vin Baker, who personally didn’t get what he wanted, stuck with this team and this coaching job and showed great character. I just told those guys that they would want me for life and we couldn’t have done it without them.”

In the end, the team set new program records: 186 blocked shots (the record was 125), 2,659 total points (was 2,618), 944 field goals (879), 2,062 shot attempts (1,950), 1,330 rebounds. (1,241), 39.1 rpg average (38.4), and Top 5 marks in several other categories.

“Proud of everybody,” Lundy said. “Proud of our fan base and our city that they’ve really started to support us. And I think that’s the first step. We’re going to keep building. Hopefully we’ll get a good bunch of these guys back and add to the songs that we’ve already done. We’re just adding pieces and it’s going to be great thing here in Milwaukee. This type of season is becoming the norm.”

A slow start this Monday night hurt MKE’s chances out of the gate. The 49ers came out scoring the first eight points of the contest and an 18-7 lead. A quick 11-3 push by Milwaukee got the team back within three at 21-18 on a Thomas fast-break layup, but Charlotte reversed course and led 34-27 at the break.

“The early hole really hurt,” Lundy said. “We had to press them and it was a desperate squeeze. You use so much energy to come back and then they make a couple of shots and it’s really draining. There they go on those mini-runs and we roll it back in. They made enough plays to keep it at arm’s length . Some of it is growth for our team, but it’s tough to be behind a team like Charlotte.”

They then scored the first six goals of the second half to double their lead at 40-27 and hold off any serious threats the rest of the way to advance to the semifinals. The Panthers made one final push when Browning converted a three-point play that cut a 10-point deficit (at 52-42) to five at 52-47. But an 8-0 run sealed the deal, pushing the lead back to 60-47 after 10 minutes.

The team made huge strides this season, finishing second in the Horizon League standings for their best finish since 2010-11. The Panthers also played in the postseason for the first time since 2014 and were the only Horizon League team (out of four) to win postseason competition.

“That 1-1 (at CBI) was huge,” Lundy said. “The win last night was huge. It’s a postseason win and I hope our fans realize how hard it is to get and how few teams get it. 13 new players coming together, playing together and accomplishing what they’ve done and deserve this season post opportunity is not easy coming into the CBI. We played against Stetson basically in their home game that Charlotte team is a veteran team outside of one guy. We’ve been doing it all year and we’re just proud of what they did and it was a huge building block for our program. They learned from the experience , they’ll learn about it from the basketball side, and the next time we’re here, they’ll remember it.”

As the season progressed, the fan base kept getting younger and the team created a buzz in the city as the winter wore on, led by Lundy as the face of the program.

“And they supported us,” Lundy said of the fans. “What we had, 800 fans in the first game and then we packed the K out in our last home game. And we played Wright State, who won the league last year and had beaten us twice this season, and those fans helped us beat Wright State. And the media in town, the fans and alumni from all over just showed up and it’s our responsibility to continue that. And we will. We’re going to think about how we move our roster and hopefully this 22-win season is just the tip of the iceberg of what we can do here.”