CHICAGO, Ill. – The Milwaukee men's basketball team erased a 17-point deficit to take a second-half lead, only to see UIC answer with a big scoring run of its own in claiming a 74-59 victory Sunday afternoon at Credit Union 1 Arena.
 
The Panthers (9-20, 4-12 Horizon League) came all the way back to lead the Flames (15-14, 9-7 Horizon League), 52-49, but went cold from the floor from there. UIC went back ahead by 15 following the response and never saw the advantage fall below 10 the rest of the contest.
 
"We got off to a poor start and that was a catalyst for UIC to win tonight," head coach Pat Baldwin said. "Our guys battled back from being down early in the first half and made a huge push in the second half to take the lead. From there, we just couldn't capitalize."
 
DeAndre Abram led the way with 15 points.
 
Jake Wright went for 14 points and Vance Johnson finished with a double-double of 14 points and 11 rebounds.
 
Godwin Boahen led all scorers with 22 points for the home team.
 
"Give UIC a lot of credit," Baldwin said. "They hit some key 3's to extend their lead. They made the plays that were out there on the floor and unfortunately, we didn't."
 
Down nine at the break, Roy quickly cut that down to six on a three-point play to start the second half. Abram's 3 cut the margin to four at 43-39 and another three-pointer by Bryce Barnes had the deficit down to one possession at 44-42 with 16:40 remaining.
 
Milwaukee kept clawing, eventually taking that 52-49 lead on a corner 3 by Wright with 12 minutes left. That was as good as it got for MKE, with the Flames turning momentum with a large scoring run while also holding the Panthers scoreless for over eight minutes.
 
The teams traded six-point spurts to start the game, with UIC getting two of them on the way to a 20-10 lead out of the gate.
 
The lead grew to 35-18 before Milwaukee mounted a response. Fueled by a pair of three-pointers from Wright, the team went on a 10-2 scoring run to dig back into the contest. Roy's jumper drew the team back to 37-28 and forced a timeout with a little over two minutes left in the period.
 
Overall, MKE scored 13 of the final 15 points of the frame to get back within nine at the break at 40-31.
 
The final homestand of the regular season is up next. Up first is a contest Thursday night, with MKE welcoming Northern Kentucky for a game set to tip off at 7 p.m.