MILWAUKEE - Jeremiah Bell led the way with 18 points and the defense held Detroit Mercy without a field goal over the final 5:50 to help the Milwaukee men's basketball team to an 87-79 victory Saturday evening at UWM Panther Arena.
 
"Proud of our guys for the way they bounced back after playing against Oakland," Milwaukee head coach Pat Baldwin said. "Certainly another challenge here with Detroit coming in. We knew we had to play great defense, try to weather that storm with them being able to score so quickly. Our guys really dug in, especially in the second half, and gave us some great stops."
 
In a game that featured 24 lead changes, the Panthers (8-7, 1-1 Horizon League) surged ahead of the Titans (4-11, 0-2 Horizon League) with about 15 minutes left in the game and never trailed the rest of the way. The 87 points scored also marked a season-high.
 
"That's a credit to our guys," Baldwin said of the defense down the stretch. "How hard they were playing, paying attention to the scouting report and understanding who was out there on the floor."
 
Bell made 3 three-pointers, went 5-of-6 from the free throw line and added three rebounds and three assists in 23 minutes, helping Milwaukee to its eighth victory of the season – reaching the regular-season total of last year's squad before the calendar even turns to 2018.
 
Brock Stull was right behind Bell, finishing with 17 points. Carson Warren-Newsome went for a career-high 13 points in just 15 minutes off the bench.
 
Kameron Chatman paced UDM with a game-high 20 points, adding eight rebounds. Five players ended the night in double-figures for the visitors, with Roschon Prince recording a double-double of 11 points and 10 rebounds.
 
Milwaukee shot 55.3 percent (26-of-47) from the floor, making half of its 24 three-point attempts. Brett Prahl chipped in eight points, six rebounds, three assists and three blocks. Bryce Nze added four blocks to tie his career high, scoring five points to go along with eight rebounds and three assists.
 
Up a bucket at intermission, the back-and-forth contest saw eight more lead changes over the first five minutes of the second half. A layup by Bell with 15:04 to play gave UWM the 60-59 advantage and it would never trail again.
 
The margin would grow to as many as five, but the Panthers were unable to distance themselves further. Warren-Newsome's three made it 70-66, but eventually Detroit made it a new game at 73-73. A pair of free throws by Prahl and a trio of free throws from Stull after he was fouled from long-range followed, pushing the margin right back to five.
 
Bell knocked down a long triple to make it 81-75 and Stull's three with 4:54 to play made it 84-77 to essentially decide the contest. The Milwaukee defense buckled down from there, allowing just a pair of free throws from that point to the final buzzer.
 
It was an entertaining first half that featured five ties and 16 of those lead changes, seeing the Panthers up by a point at intermission at 48-47.
 
A frenetic pace at the start, Milwaukee grabbed an early 18-14 lead and was shooting near 70 percent as a team deep into the period. Detroit Mercy, averaging 84.3 points a game, stepped on the gas pedal and kept up the pressure, eventually ripping off 10 in a row as part of a 14-3 run that handed the visitors a 37-32 advantage at the time.
 
Milwaukee pushed right back. Four free throws by Haas and back-to-back triples from Stull put the Panthers back ahead, 44-43, with 2:37 left in the period. UWM would stay ahead the rest of the first half.
 
Up next, the Panthers open a five-game road swing with a pair of games in the state of Ohio, beginning with a visit to Youngstown State Thursday. Tip off time against the Penguins is set for 6:35 p.m. CST.