DES MOINES, Iowa – Noah Thomas hit a three-pointer with 2.3 seconds left to lift Drake past the Milwaukee men's basketball team by a final score of 56-53 at the Knapp Center Tuesday night.
 
The Panthers (5-4) had tied the game up against the Bulldogs (7-2) the prior play, with Darius Roy's layup making it a 53-53 contest with 17.8 seconds remaining.
 
"This was a tough game, head coach Pat Baldwin said. "Like I told our team, we made enough plays to win. But unfortunately, we had some plays that we wish we could have back. It's a learning lesson for us and we're just going to get back to the drawing board and get better."
 
Milwaukee had a final opportunity following the last-second make, but were unable to find a way to force overtime in the defensive battle.
 
"Credit to them, they made the plays they needed to in order to win a defensive game like this," Baldwin said. "Both teams were having a tough time offensively and our defense kept us in the game for the most part."
 
DeAndre Abram led MKE with 12 points, adding seven rebounds, two blocks and a pair of steals.
 
Roy finished with nine points and four rebounds despite foul trouble and Tyler Behrendt was a spark off the bench, finishing with a career-high nine points, all coming in the second half.
 
"We talk about that all the time," Baldwin said. "It's not about one or two guys on our team; it's about the collective whole. We had some guys come off the bench and made some huge plays for us – Ty Behrendt came off the bench and gave us nine points and some really good defense. So credit our bench, they did a great job and stepped up when needed. We just needed a couple more plays."
 
Liam Robbins led the Bulldogs with 11 points and seven rebounds.
 
Much of the game featured scoring runs between the two teams, with Drake coming out of the locker room in the second half with 10 consecutive points to take its biggest lead at 36-29 with just under 16 minutes remaining.
 
Behrendt sparked the response, with a three from him and another from Abram making it 36-35. Abram then banked in a triple with the shot clock expiring to give Milwaukee back the advantage at 38-36.
 
The scoring spree hit 11 straight and was capped at 14-2 on another swish from distance by Behrendt, giving the Panthers the 43-38 edge with 11:54 to go.
 
Drake pushed back and went ahead at 47-46. The defense did well and eventually gave the offense a chance, allowing Roy to forge the fifth tie of the night at 53-all.
 
Turnovers hurt the Panthers in the first, yet the team took a 29-26 advantage into the locker room by holding Drake to 32.3 percent (10-of-31) from the floor while hitting five three-pointers.
 
Milwaukee jumped out to a 14-6 lead, but was matched quickly to make it a new game at 14-14. A quick scoring spurt of nine straight followed, with Abram making it 23-14 on a 3 from the corner at the 8:21 mark.
 
MKE matched its biggest lead of the half a few minutes later, when Amir Allen finished the fastbreak with a lay-in that made it 27-18.
 
Both teams finished below 35 percent from the floor on the night, with MKE holding the final 41-36 rebounding edge. Allen chipped in eight points and seven rebounds to go along with three blocks. Josh Thomas added 6 points/7 rebounds/4 assists.
 
Up next, the Panthers face their biggest road challenge of the season, heading to No. 2/No. 3 Kansas next Tuesday. Game time against the nationally-ranked Jayhawks is set for 7 p.m. from "Phog" Allen Fieldhouse.