KANSAS CITY, Mo. – The Milwaukee men's basketball team scored the final 12 points of the night to pull off an improbable 69-66 victory over UMKC Thursday night at Municipal Auditorium.
 
"First of all, I am really proud of our guys, they weathered storms and we fought through a lot of adversity this evening," head coach Pat Baldwin said. "They just stayed with it. Our will to win was greater than anything than I have ever seen and I am so proud of our guys."
 
The Panthers (3-8) trailed the Kangaroos (3-8) by nine points with 2:45 to play before roaring back, going ahead on a Darius Roy layup with 16.4 seconds remaining. Amir Allen then added a fastbreak dunk to send Milwaukee back home with the amazing comeback win.
 
"When you are down nine in that period of time, it all comes down to stops," Baldwin said. "We ended up getting the stops that we needed and then we got a big-time steal that turned the game around."
 
DeAndre Abram led Milwaukee with 20 points and 10 rebounds, making 7-of-10 field goals overall while connecting on 5-of-6 from three-point range.
 
"He was really good tonight, he was a stud," Baldwin said. "When we were down in the first half and not doing very well, he saved us. For us to only be down four, with how many times we turned the ball over and gave them opportunities, he really saved us in that first half."
 
Darius Roy scored 15 of his 17 points in the second half, contributing four key points in the final 26.5 seconds to spark the final push.
 
The Panthers trailed by four at the break and found themselves down by 10 at 53-43, with just under 10 minutes to play following a Kangaroo run. Roy hit a jumper and a three to make it 53-48 and another triple from Jamar Madge forced a UMKC timeout at 54-51.
 
The team could not get over the hump, also getting it to one-possession on a reverse layup from Vance Johnson with 6:51 to play at 56-53.
 
The home team pushed back one final time, scoring eight of the next 10 points to seemingly take control at 64-55 with 3:43 to play and again led by nine at 66-57 with 2:45 remaining to set the stage for the epic finish.
 
After four tough losses in which Milwaukee saw its opponent earn the win with a decisive scoring run, this time it was all theirs.
 
Johnson finished a tough hoop and was fouled to make it 66-60 and Abram followed with a long three from straightaway to pull MKE within three at 66-63.
 
Roy's free throws with 26.5 left made it 66-65 and set the stage for the last lead change. After UMKC got the ball in, Roy and Bryce Barnes forced a trap along the sideline. Roy got the first poke of the ball, with Barnes jumping out of bounds to save the possession, hitting Roy nearly in stride to put his team ahead, 68-67, on a layup with just 16.4 ticks left.
 
"When we made the free throw, I was thinking that we needed to foul right away … I didn't want any more time go off the clock," Baldwin said. "I think we missed our opportunity to do that. We got the steal and the rest was history."
 
Following a miss, Abram grabbed his 10^th rebound and Roy found Allen for the emphatic dunk to put the exclamation mark on the victory.
 
The first half was a sloppy one for the Panthers, committing 14 turnovers in the first 20 minutes that led to a 14-0 advantage in points off turnovers for the 'Roos. Despite the miscues, Milwaukee was right there at the break, trailing by just four at intermission, 33-29, thanks to 13 points from Abram.
 
The Panthers raced out to a 9-1 lead, capped by a Wil Sessoms dunk, but a 13-3 UMKC run gave it the lead at 14-12 with just over 12 minutes to play. Eight in a row from Abram pushed MKE back ahead at 20-18, but another 10-4 spree by the 'Roos gave them the lead heading into the break.
 
Milwaukee finished the night with a huge 41-25 advantage on the boards and shot 51 percent (25-of-49) from the floor. The final count in turnovers was 21-7, but the fight of the Panthers was too strong on this night, holding UMKC to just 37.5 percent from the floor (21-of-56) and without a field goal over the final 3:43.
 
Johnson finished with nine points and six rebounds. Allen added 10 boards to his statline. Madge finished with five points in a season-high 23 minutes in front of friends and family while getting the chance to play in his hometown.
 
Up next, with UWM graduation being held downtown the same day, the Panthers return to campus to host Wisconsin Lutheran College on Sunday. Tip time against the Warriors is set for 4 p.m. from the Klotsche Center.