CHARLOTTE

Everything was back to normal last night at the Charlotte Coliseum.

The stands were more than half empty again, and the Charlotte Hornets fell back into their recent doldrums in a 105-89 loss to the Milwaukee Bucks.

The Bucks took control quickly, leading by 23 points in the first half and 18 at halftime, and the Hornets never got the deficit under double digits in the second half.

It was not the way the Hornets wanted to follow their 99-93 win over Washington on Wednesday night, when a sellout crowd of 23,799 looked on, and afterward Hornets players talked about their their frustration.

"It's disappointing," guard David Wesley said. "We just can't seem to build on a good performance. We won big games at Utah and Portland earlier in the year and couldn't build on them, and the same thing happened tonight. To play like we did in front of a packed house Wednesday night and then to come back with an effort like this, it's frustrating."

The loss dropped the Hornets to 13-16 and was the fifth loss in their past seven games. It also dropped them to 4-8 at home and was the eighth loss in their past 10 home games.

"The first half was our demise," Coach Paul Silas said. "We didn't play very well in the first half at all. We just didn't come with it tonight."

To add to the Hornets' misery, guard Baron Davis exited early in the third quarter because of more problems with his injured right knee and didn't return. He's listed as doubtful for tonight's game at Washington.

"We're not going to make any excuses, but when you're without your point guard on top of not having Mash (Jamal Mashburn) and (George) Lynch, you're going to struggle," Silas said. "Without those guys, we're not a very good team."

Sam Cassell led the Bucks with 29 points. Glenn Robinson scored 21, Tim Thomas 18, and Darvin Ham supplied some of the most electric plays of the night and finished with 12. The Bucks shot 47.2 percent from the field but were a sizzling 10 of 14 from 3-point range, with Cassell and Thomas hitting three treys each.

The Bucks have won three straight and are 17-9, leading the Central Division.

Lee Nailon led the Hornets with 24 points, Wesley scored 21 and Elden Campbell finished with 16. Davis was 2 of 11 from the field before leaving and finished with seven points.

The Bucks scored the last four points of the first quarter to lead 33-26 after one period, then assumed firm control in the second quarter.

They went on an 18-2 run over a span of 4:51 early in the second to push a 35-29 lead to 53-31.

The Bucks hit three 3-pointers in that span, two by Rafer Alston, and the Hornets went more than five minutes without a field goal. The Hornets missed 16 of their first 19 shots in the period.

Milwaukee's biggest lead came at 56-33. The Hornets never got closer than 92-82 with just more than five minutes left in the game.

"Tonight was a letdown for us," Campbell said.

"It was just an off game. We're going in the wrong direction. But all we can do right now is learn from our mistakes and try to improve for the next game."

After tonight's game at Washington, the Hornets will return home for a five-game homestand.

"We've got to find a way to start winning consistently at home," Wesley said. "Tonight was a great opportunity for us and we didn't take advantage of it. I feel we're better than our record, but the fact is we're not playing that way. It kinda sucks, really."