MILWAUKEE - Four players scored in double-figures and the defense of the Milwaukee men's basketball team held Wright State without a point over the final three-plus minutes to record the 66-61 upset victory Saturday night at UWM Panther Arena.
 
"Very good win against a very good Wright State team," head coach Pat Baldwin said. "We had the odds stacked against us having Northern Kentucky and Wright State come in here but I give our guys a lot of credit for coming in with a lot of fight and a lot of intensity."
 
The Panthers (10-12, 3-6 Horizon League) raced out to a 12-point lead just minutes into the second half, only to see the Raiders (15-6, 7-1 Horizon League) – ranked No. 25 in the CollegeInsider.com Mid-Major Top 25 Poll this week – battle back to take the lead and make it interesting midway through the second half.
 
Eight lead changes later, Milwaukee took the lead for good on a tip-in by Bryce Nze and let the defense do the rest. The Panthers held the Raiders to zero points over the final 3:18, forcing misses on each of their last seven field goals to snap the visitors winning streak at eight games on the season and hand them their first conference defeat.
 
"We weathered the storm a little bit and gave them the opportunity to get back into the game," Baldwin said. "We had great defensive stands late in the game that propelled us to this win. I am proud of this win and really happy for our guys that we can celebrate this win."
 
Brock Stull led Milwaukee with 17 points, adding his second double-double in the past three contests with a game-high 11 rebounds. He also had a game-high six assists.
 
"We had some big plays from a lot of our key guys," Baldwin said. "In particular Brock, who had 17 and 11, and I count the 11 rebounds as very significant considering who they had inside and what we had to go up against."
 
Three other players hit for double-figures, with Brett Prahl making 7-of-10 field goals for his 15 points. Bryce Barnes was back in the starting lineup and provided a big spark, especially early, finishing with 12 points and four boards.
 
Jeremiah Bell added 10 points.
 
Loudon Love paced WSU with 16 points and seven rebounds. Milwaukee held leading scorer Grant Benzinger – who came in averaging a team-best 15.1 ppg – to just six points on 2-of-10 shooting.
 
Milwaukee burst out of the half and grabbed its biggest lead at 42-30, but was apparently the wake-up call for Wright State. The Raiders responded with a seven straight as part of a 12-2 run that made it a new game at 44-42.
 
A Stull three calmed it down but the larger run grew to 22-9 with Wright State taking a 52-51 lead with 10:16 to play. From there the teams traded punches.
 
Bell gave UWM the 53-52 lead and the basket was answered. Carson Warren-Newsome hit a huge 3 to put Milwaukee back on top at 58-56, but WSU again had an answer. It was finally Nze's tip-in at the 4:05 mark that gave the Panthers the lead they would not relinquish.
 
The Panthers used a couple of key runs to lead at the half, 37-30. Back-and-forth at the start, Barnes corner 3 gave Milwaukee its first lead at 12-10 at the 14:09 mark. The team hit its first three from long-range, with Stull's triple pushing the lead to 17-12 at the 12:46 mark.
 
Back-to-back 3's from Stull capped a 13-2 run and put the scoreboard at 20-12. UWM started with eight makes in its first 11 attempts from the floor, with yet another three-pointer – this time by Bell – making it 23-17 midway through the period.
 
A Vance Johnson putback dunk helped spur another Milwaukee run, with Prahl's three-point play making it 35-26 and a pair of free throws by Warren-Newsome capping another 9-0 run to make it 37-26 – also the team's biggest lead of the period.
 
WSU, which had been off to its best-ever start in Horizon League play, was held to 38.7 percent (24-of-62) by the Panthers on the night. Rebounds were tied at 32-32. After a nice showing in the first half (52 percent), the Panthers finished the night at 46.9 percent (23-of-49) from the floor, making 7-of-13 three-pointers.
 
Milwaukee will remain at home, welcoming Youngstown State next week Thursday. The contest against the Penguins, set to be televised on FOX SPORTS Wisconsin, will get underway at 7 p.m.