MILWAUKEE — Luke Reigel said he was not sure what to expect when he sent his UW-Parkside men’s basketball team to do battle with UW-Milwaukee Saturday night.

The Rangers, every bit as green as their road uniforms, showed plenty of promise but fell to the 3-point happy Panthers 63-50 before a gathering of 2,027 at the U.S. Cellular Arena.

The Rangers were without 6-foot, 7-inch junior forward Craig Cunningham, their lone returning starter. He suffered a badly pulled hamstring before practices began, Reigel said.

“It’s going to be awhile,” Reigel said when asked for a timetable for Cunningham’s return.

“He’s getting closer. I’m guessing maybe two more weeks before he can start getting in the mix.”

Freshman forward Jeremy Saffold scored five of his 13 points during the first 4-1/2 minutes as Parkside opened a 9-2 lead. The Rangers trailed only briefly during the first 16 minutes and had a 25-23 lead after freshman guard Ryan Callozzo scored inside.

The Panthers next six baskets were 3-pointers, four of which came during the final 2:31 of the first half and the other two during the first 2:12 of the second.

Three came from senior guard Ricky Franklin (game-high 21 points), while senior forward Jason Averkamp, sophomore forward Tony Meier and senior forward James Aeyrs each had one.

The long-distance barrage gave UW-Milwaukee a 41-31 lead. Parkside got as close as 45-37 on a basket by Christian Life graduate Grant Johnson with 13:52 remaining. Another 3-pointer — the Panthers had more 3-point baskets (10) in the game than two-pointers (8) — by freshman guard Ja-Rob McCallum started a 16-8 run that gave the Panthers their biggest lead, 61-45, lead with 5:19 to play.

“Their 3s, we knew Averkamp could shoot,” Reigel said. “I mean, our post players, they’re not used to that. It’s a four or five man (big forward or center), they set the ball screen, they execute, and all of a sudden you’re scrambling. And there’s Averkamp knocking down a 3.

“Obviously, Eayrs can really shoot the ball. And we told our guys that, but until you go against it you just don’t know.

“That being said, I thought our kids played really hard. That’s what we’ve talked about.

“As a younger group, they really play hard. They’re not overwhelmed by the moment.”

Saffold led the Panthers with 13 points. Johnson was right behind with 11. The Rangers had 12 assists and 13 turnovers. Nine of the 11 players Reigel used played 14 or more minutes.

Johnson, who played at Madison Area Technical College last season, made four of 10 field goal attempts (0-for-1 from 3-point range) and three of four free throws in 27 minutes.

He had shared the team lead with six rebounds and had three assists and three turnovers.

“We really didn’t run our offense too (well),” Johnson said. “First-game jitters. But we played good as a team. I think we’re getting together.

“I was excited. I wasn’t too nervous. It was a big game. Big arena. You don’t play in an arena like this too often. It was fun.”

The Rangers will open their regular season when they play host to Concordia (WI), at noon Nov. 15 at the DeSimone Gym.