MILWAUKEE – Darius Roy scored 17 of his 25 points in the second half to lead the Milwaukee men's basketball team to a 64-57 victory over IUPUI Saturday at UWM Panther Arena.
 
The Panthers (9-11, 4-3 Horizon League) took advantage of a strong defensive stand spanning both halves to open things up against the Jaguars (11-9, 3-4 Horizon League) and then used a late scoring run to put it away.
 
"It was a great night for Panther basketball and for our guys and I loved the toughness that our guys displayed throughout the game," head coach Pat Baldwin said. "We are proud of our guys. We talked about closing out weekends like this – when we win a Thursday game and now you have an opportunity to close out the weekend the right way."
 
The visitors did trim the lead to four with just over a minute to play. However, a 4-of-5 showing from the free throw line and an emphatic dunk by DeAndre Abram with 34 seconds left sealed the victory.
 
Roy barely missed a shot, finishing 9-of-11 from the floor, 3-of-3 from three-point range and 4-of-4 from the free throw line.
 
Abram finished with 19 points and added five rebounds. Vance Johnson chipped in eight points and seven rebounds.
 
The defense led the charge, limiting the Jaguars to 35.7 percent (20-of-56) shooting from the floor for the contest, while holding them to a season-low 57 points.
 
"The toughness comes from the defensive side and our guys did a great job of defending and taking care of their main scorers," Baldwin said. "And then on the glass, for us to out-number them in that (MKE won the rebound battle, 35-33) was really huge for us."
 
Camron Justice finished with 17 points in defeat.
 
Milwaukee was up 12-6 early after a couple of made 3's, but went cold from the floor and fell behind, eventually with the scoreboard reading 21-18.
 
From there, the defense paved the way, forcing IUPUI into just one make on its final 10 shots of the period, holding them scoreless the final 5:36 of the frame to edge ahead at the break, 22-21.
 
The scoreless streak eventually reached 8-plus minutes, with the Panthers scoring 11 unanswered at the same time to build the lead to 29-21, forcing a timeout by the visitors at the 17:31 mark.
 
The Jaguars did not go quietly, netting six in a row to draw nearly even. Roy took over from there, hitting a long three-pointer and a nice drive on the next possession to give MKE the 38-32 advantage.
 
Five in a row by the 'Jags again made it a one-point game. Milwaukee had the answer, with Abram hitting a three to make it 45-39 and a Roy triple capping a 12-2 run to give the Panthers their biggest lead of the night at 50-39.
 
The team shot 41.1 percent from the floor and 90.9 percent from the line, while also winning the rebounding battle, 35-33.
 
The Panthers embark on a season-long five-game road trip, with the next stop coming at Wright State Thursday. Tip time in the contest against the Raiders is set for 6 p.m. CST.