Every Thursday, we send out the great OnMilwaukee Weekend Preview filled with awesome things to do. Some of those awesome things are sports-related; many are not. So every Monday, we recap what happened in the world of Wisconsin sports while you were out doing all those other awesome weekend things.
Friday
Bucks lose to Raptors, 90-83: Shooting guard Khris Middleton scored 26 points, his fourth game of at least 20 this season, but his counterpart did even more north of the border. DeMar DeRozan had 27 points, helping the Raptors resist a second-half comeback by the Bucks, who reduced a 19-point deficit to five late in the game. Milwaukee, which has lost nine straight road games, fell to 0-7 when it doesn’t score at least 90 points.
Wave loses to Mustangs, 8-3: Fan-favorite forward Ian Bennett scored twice, but that was just about it on offense for Milwaukee, which gave up four fourth-quarter goals in the road defeat. But c’mon, the "Chicago" Mustangs play in Hoffman Estates, Ill., where even is that?
Saturday
UW-Whitewater loses to Mount Union, 36-6: In the latest iteration of one of college sports’ greatest postseason rivalries, the Warhawks were this time routed by the Purple Raiders in a semifinal game in Alliance, Ohio, and saw their season come to an end. Whitewater, which had won six Division III national championships in eight years, all against Mount Union, was stifled on offense and held without a touchdown for the first time since 2012.
Golden Eagles beat Badgers, 57-55: Led by Wisconsin-born big men Henry Ellenson and Luke Fischer, Marquette won the annual rivalry game and made a case for the shifting of state basketball power from Madison to Milwaukee. The Golden Eagles smothered the Badgers on defense, holding star Nigel Hayes to 10 points on 4-of-18 shooting, and were stout inside in the road victory.
Wave beat Rampage, 8-6: Milwaukee scored twice in the game’s final minute – with Marcelo Fontana netting the go-ahead goal and Sean Totsch notching his hat trick 12 seconds before the buzzer – to give the Wave the victory in Cedar Rapids, Iowa.
Admirals lose to Moose, 3-2: Milwaukee took the lead in the first quarter but were down 3-1 going into the third period in Winnipeg, Manitoba. The Admirals took 14 shots in the final period but didn’t score until there were only 12 seconds left, losing the game despite outshooting the Moose 32-21.
Bucks beat Warriors, 108-95: In the sold-out BMO Harris Bradley Center, amid a playoff-type atmosphere, Milwaukee earned one of its biggest victories in the past decade. The Bucks ended the defending-champion Warriors’ winning streaks – 14 straight on the road, 24 overall to start the season and 28 in a row dating to last year – by playing swarming defense and dominating inside with Greg Monroe (28 points, 11 rebounds). They also got key contributions from O.J. Mayo (guarding Stephen Curry and hitting 4 of 8 3-pointers), Michael Carter Williams (17 points, five assists off the bench) and Giannis Antetokounmpo (first career triple-double, with 11 points, 12 rebounds and assists). Our OnMilwaukee pregame prediction was right!
Sunday
Packers beat Cowboys, 28-7: Head coach Mike McCarthy took back play-calling duties, fed Eddie Lacy a steady diet of carries (so to speak), balanced the runs with efficient quarterback play from Aaron Rodgers and saw his defense hold hapless Dallas to 270 total yards in Green Bay. Lacy, a week after being disciplined for breaking curfew, rushed for 124 yards and a touchdown, Rodgers threw for 218 yards and two scores and Clay Matthews got his first sack in two months for the first-place Packers.
UW-Green Bay women beat Wisconsin women, 72-58: You shoot 78.6 percent and score a season-high 28 points in the first quarter, you’re not going to lose many games. The Phoenix outscored the Badgers in the first three quarters and built a lead the latter could not overcome in Madison.
Admirals beat Moose, 4-3: In the Manitoba road rematch, Milwaukee won in a shootout, as Vince Saponari scored the only goal during the five rounds after overtime. It was the Admirals’ first win over the Moose in four games this season.
UW-Milwaukee beat Judson, 125-74: Seven players scored in double figures, and the Panthers set a school points record and tied its record for assists in a game in a blowout of the Eagles, an NAIA team. The home rout followed UWM’s impressive road win over the Badgers last week.
Born in Milwaukee but a product of Shorewood High School (go ‘Hounds!) and Northwestern University (go ‘Cats!), Jimmy never knew the schoolboy bliss of cheering for a winning football, basketball or baseball team. So he ditched being a fan in order to cover sports professionally - occasionally objectively, always passionately. He's lived in Chicago, New York and Dallas, but now resides again in his beloved Brew City and is an ardent attacker of the notorious Milwaukee Inferiority Complex.
After interning at print publications like Birds and Blooms (official motto: "America's #1 backyard birding and gardening magazine!"), Sports Illustrated (unofficial motto: "Subscribe and save up to 90% off the cover price!") and The Dallas Morning News (a newspaper!), Jimmy worked for web outlets like CBSSports.com, where he was a Packers beat reporter, and FOX Sports Wisconsin, where he managed digital content. He's a proponent and frequent user of em dashes, parenthetical asides, descriptive appositives and, really, anything that makes his sentences longer and more needlessly complex.
Jimmy appreciates references to late '90s Brewers and Bucks players and is the curator of the unofficial John Jaha Hall of Fame. He also enjoys running, biking and soccer, but isn't too annoying about them. He writes about sports - both mainstream and unconventional - and non-sports, including history, music, food, art and even golf (just kidding!), and welcomes reader suggestions for off-the-beaten-path story ideas.
