DETROIT, Mich. - Brock Stull scored a season-high 25 points and took over down the stretch, leading the Milwaukee men's basketball team to an 80-75 victory over UIC in quarterfinal action of Horizon League Motor City Madness Sunday night at Little Caesars Arena.
 
"A very good battle from our guys and a very good UIC team that really had our number in the regular season," head coach Pat Baldwin said. "We knew going into this game that we were in for a big fight. But, give our guys a lot of credit. They battled in the first half and in the second half we stepped up and made difficult shots."
 
Stull was close to unstoppable the closing minutes, leading the No. 6 Panthers (16-16) to another postseason upset by downing the Flames (17-15), a team they had lost to twice in the regular season. Stull poured in 19 of his 25 in the second half.
 
"Now we have to shift from a very good win tonight, to a very good Wright State team that we have to be prepared for," Baldwin said.
 
Stull scored 18 of UWM's 25 points over the deciding 10 minutes of the game when the result was in the balance, adding seven rebounds and three assists.
 
Brett Prahl added 14 points, including a key four-point play that gave Milwaukee some breathing room at the time with just under seven minutes to play.
 
Bryce Nze finished a rebound away from a double-double (10 points/9 rebounds) and Jeremiah Bell had a dozen – including a big three-pointer that keyed an 11-0 run and gave UWM the lead for good.
 
Tarkus Ferguson led the Flames with 23 points, adding seven assists. Dikembe Dixson finished with 13.
 
Milwaukee came out a bit flat from intermission and found itself trailing, 51-44, with 12:32 to play. The tide turned from there, with Stull leading the attack.
 
He scored six straight to get the Panthers within three, and then Bell's triple from the top of the key to make it a new game at 55-55 at the 8:56 mark.
 
A pair of Stull free throws gave his team the lead at 57-55 before Prahl came up with a huge play. He finished off a lob pass from Bell for the bucket and took a flagrant foul on the play from Jordan Blount on the make. His two free throws made it a four-point play and saw Milwaukee ahead, 61-55, capping an 11-0 run.
 
UIC made one final push and was back within one on a Dixon three at 63-62. It was another UWM answer that put it away, responding with eight straight points – five from Stull – to push the lead back to 71-62.
 
Stull's leaning three-pointer with the shot clock about to expire made it 74-66 with 90 seconds left and iced the win for the Panthers.
 
"Sometimes the ball just goes in," Stull said. "We know that it's win-or-go-home and we definitely don't want to go home. I think it's that little extra motivation and boost that you get at this time of the year."
 
The defense did the heavy work, holding the Flames without a field goal for final five-plus minutes of regulation, outside of a meaningless field goal at the buzzer.
 
Milwaukee led 8-2 early after making its first four shot attempts, but was behind quickly following an 11-0 spree. August Haas hit a jumper to make it 15-15 and his 3 put UWM ahead at 19-17. The team led by as many as six in the opening 20 minutes in a contest that featured eight ties and eight lead changes overall.
 
Milwaukee finished the night at 46.7 percent (28-of-60) from the floor, holding the Flames to 41.8 percent (23-of-55) for the game, which included just over 30 percent in the deciding second half.
 
That takes the Panthers to the semifinals of Motor City Madness for the second straight season, scheduled to take on No. 2 Wright State Monday night at 8:30 p.m. CST. Milwaukee did sweep the season series from the Raiders, winning 66-61 at home and 74-73 on the road. The game will be televised on ESPNU.