(REUTERS) — Tournament MVP Clay Tucker scored 18 of his game-high 23 points in the first half in leading the No. 2 seed University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee to a 69-52 win over No. 1 seed Butler University in the championship game of the 2003 Horizon League men’s basketball tournament Tuesday.
With the win, Milwaukee (24-7) receives the league’s automatic berth into the NCAA tournament. The NCAA appearance will be the first in the 107-year history of the UWM men’s basketball program. Butler, which falls to 25-5 with the loss, will await the NCAA selection committee’s decision on its postseason fate.
Milwaukee scored the first 14 points on the night and never trailed in the game. Tucker scored seven of UWM’s first 14 points and 11 of the first 23 as the Panthers grabbed a 23-6 lead with 11:38 to play in the first half. Butler got to within 12 on a Joel Cornette layup with 6:33 left in the stanza to bring the score to 26-14 before UWM went on a 12-2 run to go up 22, making the score 38-16, on a Tucker breakaway layup with 1:42 on the clock. The Panthers shot 50 percent (16-32) in the first half and held BU to 28.6 percent (6-21) to go with 10 turnovers.
Butler stayed in the game throughout most of the second half but could never get over the hump. The Bulldogs cut the lead to 12 on four different occasions, the last coming with 10:48 to go when a Cornette layin made it 48-36. However, UWM’s Jones and Justin Lettenberger combined for nine straight points in pushing the Panther lead to 59-41 with 3:46 left to play. Milwaukee hit six free throws to go with two dunks the rest of the way to claim the 17-point victory.
In addition to his 23 points, Tucker added a team-high eight rebounds to go with game-bests in assists (4), steals (4) and blocks (2). Jones added 16 for UWM while Lettenberger added eight points and six rebounds off the bench. Darnell Archey led Butler with 14 points while Avery Sheets contributed 11. Cornette and reserve Duane Lightfoot added 10 points apiece for the Bulldogs.
Milwaukee out-rebounded Butler 40-30 on the game while out-shooting the Bulldogs 48.1 percent to 40.8 percent. The Panthers connected on five-of-18 from three-point land while holding Butler, the league’s leading three-point shooting team, to 5-21 from beyond the arc.
