MILWAUKEE - Jeremy Johnson hit the game-winning shot with 0.9 seconds on the clock to cap a 19-point comeback and send the Milwaukee men's basketball team to a thrilling 72-71 victory over Elon Sunday afternoon at UWM Panther Arena.
 
The Panthers (4-1) scored the final six points of the contest, handing the Phoenix (3-2) the loss when Johnson grabbed a rebound in the lane off a missed UWM jumper and buried the putback with a defender in his face.
 
The defense then held up on a final last-second attempt, handing the championship trophy to Milwaukee in the "Black & Gold Shootout".
 
Johnson finished with nine points, none bigger than the game-winner.
 
"I just saw it come off a little short, got in there, got the rebound and put it back in," Johnson said about the winner. "There was nothing that special to it, just another play and it happened to go in. It proved we can accomplish big things like that."
 
The victory gives Milwaukee its greatest comeback (at 19 points) since knocking off UC Davis back in November of 2008 when the deficit was 24 at the half that day.
 
"In this case, it was a tale of two halves for us," head coach Pat Baldwin said. "We came back from halftime and really regrouped and got our composure back. Give our guys a lot of credit – they have a great resiliency to them, great resolve and patience with me. Because at times I am extremely fiery and competitive and I want our guys to respond like I would."
 
Brock Stull scored 16 of his 21 points in the second half to help ignite the comeback.
 
Bryce Nze added his second career double-double, finishing with 14 points and 12 rebounds. August Haas added 11, including a huge corner three to bring Milwaukee back within two at 71-69 with under a minute to play.
 
"Great effort … very happy for our guys," Baldwin said. "Especially to pick up this win considering how we started out."
 
Dainan Swoope led the visitors with 20. Elon shot 50 percent (25-of-50) on the day, sinking 11 three-pointers, but just three in the second half after some defensive adjustments helped Milwaukee.
 
UWM was down as much as 19, which came just before halftime and still trailed by 17 at intermission on a rebound and putback by Nze, making it 46-29.
 
The Panthers had a lot more fight coming out of the locker room. The deficit was back under double-figures on a Bryce Barnes three with 13:03 left.
 
A Stull trifecta capped an 11-3 run and forced an Elon timeout, making the score 54-48 with 11:49 to play.
 
UWM then had it down to seven, but a technical foul and Elon bucket pushed the margin right back to 11 at 61-50.
 
It was still 10 at 67-57 with seven minutes to play, but Barnes hit another from distance to knock it down to seven at 67-60.
 
Milwaukee kept getting big stops too. Nze came through with a steal and fastbreak dunk, trimming the lead to four at 70-66.
 
Haas hit a big 3 to get to 71-69 with 56 seconds left, followed up by a defensive stop on a shot-clock violation to get the ball back with 24.2 remaining.
 
Barnes was fouled, but could only make 1-of-2 from the line with 13.5 seconds left. The defense came through again, getting a Phoenix turnover on a full-court defensive trap to get a final possession with under 10 seconds to play.
 
Jeremiah Bell had the ball at the top of the key, with his attempt coming up just short. Johnson was crashing the boards, sending back in the rebound and setting off the celebration on the court and in the stands.
 
That helped make up for a rough start. Elon was up 7-2 out of the gates and pushed it to 12-4 after hitting five of its first eight field-goal attempts. A UWM run tied it back up at 14-14, but Elon just kept hitting three's from there. The visitors would score nine in a row while making eight of its first 11 tries from long-range in building that high-water mark lead of 19 at 46-27 on a fastbreak layup with under a minute to play in the first half.
 
The Panthers shot 40 percent (28-of-70) from the floor on the night, but did hit 10 three's. They were helped along by committing just five turnovers – one off the school record of four. Another rebounding edge went to UWM at 41-35, while outscoring Elon 43-25 in the final 20 minutes.

The "Black & Gold Shootout" All-Tournament Team consisted of the following:
Bryce Nze, Milwaukee
Brock Stull, Milwaukee
August Haas, Milwaukee
Dainan Swoope, Elon
Brian Dawkins, Elon
 
It's a big game next, as the Panthers will make the short drive to Madison to take on the Badgers November 24. Game time at the Kohl Center is set for 8 p.m.