MILWAUKEE – DeAndre Abram led five players in double-figures with 28 points, but Detroit Mercy made 13 of 16 free throws over the final four-plus minutes to escape with a 90-84 victory over the Milwaukee men's basketball team Thursday night at UWM Panther Arena.
"We have some fighters in our locker room and I'm disappointed we couldn't get this win for them," head coach
Pat Baldwin said. "But we do have some fighters that want to come back and work and get better."
The game of scoring runs saw the Panthers (9-17, 4-9 Horizon League) net 10 of 11 to take a seven-point second-half lead. The Titans (10-16, 7-7 Horizon League) had the answer, however, using a 14-2 spree of their own to give them the lead they would never relinquish.
"The only thing you can do in a situation like this, whether you win or lose, you have to continue to work," Baldwin said. "We have to get back to the drawing board. We have to look at how we are defending, look at our matchups. The biggest thing that we talk about are the details. Those are the little things that we need to get better at in order to cut this losing streak."
Abram finished 12-of-19 from the floor for his 28 points, adding six rebounds.
Darius Roy contributed 16 points and six assists.
Amir Allen chipped in 14 points on 7-of-9 shooting, while
Jake Wright and
Bobby Arthur-Williams both finished with 11.
Antoine Davis, the second-leading scorer in the nation, paced the visitors with 27.
Ahead for the majority of the first half, the Panthers trailed early in the second when the Titans made it 48-46. Milwaukee had a quick answer, with six in a row by Allen – capped by a dunk – giving MKE the 52-48 advantage. That was part of a larger 10-1 run, making the scoreboard 56-49 at the 15:20 mark.
The Titans found a way to flip the switch, scoring 14 of 16 points to take momentum at 68-63. A three by Abram stopped the run at 68-66 and the Panthers were back within three at 75-72 with 4:31 to play.
From there the visitors made their free throws, converting 81.3 percent (13-fo-16) the rest of the way to seal the win.
"I thought some turnovers in the second half really allowed Detroit to get into the game," Baldwin said. "But I think the free throw line was the greatest difference in this entire game. For them to go to the line 38 times – and a lot of that was caused by us, we were in poor position on rotations – which we worked on. We put them in the bonus early and they took advantage of it."
An entertaining first half with action up-and-down the court, seeing the Panthers lead by as many as eight points in the frame.
Down 10-6 early, Abram shot Milwaukee right back in it. He scored the first 12 points for MKE, with Wright hitting a mid-range jumper to cap an 8-0 run with the lead 14-10.
Both teams started well from the floor – the Panthers hit the midway point of the period over 75 percent. An 8-2 spurt took the advantage to 28-20, with the margin hitting its largest at that point.
The Titans had a respone, but so did Allen, scoring six points in a row by himself to push the lead back to 38-32. A final pushback by Detroit Mercy trimmed the score to 46-44 at the break.
The Panthers finished the night at 50 percent from the floor, making half of their 68 attempts. The free-throw totals in the game were telling, with MKE making 7-of-12 compared to 31-of-38 for the Titans.
Up next, the Panthers welcome Oakland to UWM Panther Arena Saturday, set for a tip time of 6 p.m.
