MANHATTAN, Kan. – The Milwaukee men's basketball team scored the final six points of the night and nearly pulled off the season-opening victory, falling by a final score of 76-75 to Kansas State Friday night at Bramlage Coliseum.
 
"I am really proud of our guys and the way they competed," head coach Pat Baldwin said. "There were several instances during the game where we went down by seven or eight points and our guys continued to battle back and took a lead by one and had opportunities to win."
 
A back-and-forth affair full of scoring runs and seven lead changes, the Wildcats (2-4) appeared to take control with a string of made three-pointers that pushed the lead against the Panthers (0-1) to 74-67 with just 90 seconds to play.
 
Milwaukee never gave up, playing the foul game perfectly down the stretch. The team connected on six free throws in the final 39 seconds, but were unable to get off a final attempt to win after running a final play with 1.6 seconds left on the clock.
 
"Even though we went 21-for-28 from the free throw line, there were a couple more that we probably needed that would have put us over the top in this game," Baldwin said. "Really proud of our guys – love our toughness and the way they competed. There is no consolation for losses, but our guys gave everything they had. For not having practiced for 14-15 days, it was really big for us to have a showing like this. Now we have to regroup and get ready for Sunday."
 
Newcomers led the way, with DeAndre Gholston finishing with 15 points as one of four players in double-figures. Gholston added six rebounds, three assists and a pair of blocks in his MKE debut.
 
Freshman Grant Coleman made a great first impression, scoring 14 points on 4-of-6 shooting from the floor, adding a 5-for-6 showing from the free throw line and six rebounds in just 20 minutes of action.
 
Te'Jon Lucas just missed a double-double with 11 points and nine assists, while Josh Thomas rounded out the group with 10.
 
Davion Bradford paced K-State with 18 points, adding a game-high seven rebounds.
 
Milwaukee turned the ball over just 11 times and won the rebounding battle, 34-to-30.
 
A game of runs early, a 7-0 start by the Panthers was quickly thwarted by 14 unanswered by the Wildcats. Gholston scored eight straight points for his team to get within three at 18-15, a hoop by Tafari Simms had them back within one at 18-17 at the midway point of the first half, and a pair of Thomas free throws made it 24-23 and capped a second 7-0 spurt by the Panthers.
 
K-State netted 10 of the final 14 points of the period to take a 38-31 lead into the locker room, but Milwaukee had an answer, as they did all night.
 
A three-point play from Gholston and another bucket by Thomas cut the deficit to two at 38-36 to open the second half, only to see momentum change once again.
 
The Wildcats turned to the three-pointer, sinking 8-of-12 in the second half after making just 2-of-10 in the first. The lead got extended to 54-47, but a 10-3 Panther run again made it close, with Simms nailing a big three-pointer to give MKE its final lead of the night at 60-59 with 7:46 to play.
 
More three's hurt, including a triple that gave the home team that late 74-67 advantage. A layup from Courtney Brown Jr. snapped a short skid and Coleman converted all three free throws with 28.1 left to pull the Panthers within two at 76-74. A chance to tie came up short at the line and, after two missed free throws with 1.6 left by Kansas State, a full-length pass was stolen to finally put it away for the Wildcats as time expired.
 
The Panthers shot 50 percent (13-of-26) in the second half to reach 41.5 percent (22-of-53) for the game. K-State connected on over 60 percent in the second half to finish at 54.7 percent (29-of-53) for the night.
 
The Panthers have a day off to travel and will play next on Sunday at Western Michigan. Tip time against the Broncos is set for 1 p.m. CST.