MILWAUKEE, Wis. – Milwaukee Area Technical College wasn't able to overcome its  lackluster interior defense as well as a poor shooting stretch midway through the second half during its 82-72 home loss to Morton College Saturday.

Up 63-62 with 9:33 remaining following a made three-pointer by freshman Ky'Moni Hunt, the Stormers' offense went cold. They totaled just nine points over the final nine minutes of action, which played a key factor in them suffering a 10-point defeat to the Panthers.

"Our defense was not where it should have been," MATC head men's basketball coach Randy Casey said. "We had multiple times where we played solid defense, which gave us the lead for a while, and then when we were up 58-52 it's like things just changed. They [Morton] scored 50 points in the paint. So that's the result of the ball game."

As a result of their poor shooting stretch, the Stormers dropped their fourth-straight game as they moved to 1-7 overall.

"We have to figure out how to play defense," Casey said of his team's recent skid.

Prior to their scoring drought late midway through the second half, the Stormers looked more than solid in the opening half. They took a 45-42 lead into halftime in part due to the stellar play of Jaquan Hickles. The sophomore center scored all 14 of his points in the first half on 62.5 percent shooting from the floor. In addition to Hickles brilliance, the Stormers also got 15 first-half bench points, including eight points from freshman Menzy Carden.

"I think we played well in the first half," Casey said. "We made better decisions. Still not great, but we made better decisions with the basketball and played better defense and then everything it was like everything we did right in the first half we decided not to do it in the second [half].

" After shooting 48.6 percent as a team (17-of-35) during the first half, the Stormers field-goal percentage plummeted to 31.3 percent (10-of-32) in the second half. It left them to finish the game shooting just 40.3 percent (27-of-67) as a team.

STAT BOOK
Hunt led the Stormers with 15 points, including a 3-of-4 mark from deep. He also added five assists and three rebounds. Hickles finished one rebound shy of a double-double, totaling 14 points, nine rebounds, one assist and a steal. Carden totaled 10 points and four rebounds on 4-of-8 shooting from the field. Sophomore Antonio Foxwell contributed 10 points, five rebounds and four assists.

UP NEXT
MATC (1-7) will travel to Waubonsee Community College at 7:30 p.m. on Nov. 25.