KALAMAZOO, Mich. – Te'Jon Lucas scored 16 points and took over down the stretch to lead the Milwaukee men's basketball team to a 71-63 victory over Western Michigan Sunday afternoon at Read Fieldhouse.
 
Lucas scored eight of the final 11 points for the Panthers (1-1) over the closing three minutes – and assisted the other made three-pointer – helping fend off the Broncos (1-4) down the stretch after Milwaukee had built a lead to as many as nine earlier in the contest.
 
"I thought we managed to control the second half really well," head coach Pat Baldwin said. "And to finish with Te'Jon, the free throws and assisting and making all the plays for us, that was huge for us this afternoon."
 
Lucas finished with a team-high 16 points, adding four rebounds, four assists and a pair of steals.
 
He was joined in double-figures by DeAndre Gholston (13 points/6 rebounds/4 steals) and C.J. Wilbourn, who netted an efficient 11 points on 4-of-5 shooting in just 17 minutes of playing time in his season debut.
 
Amir Allen added eight points and a game-high nine rebounds, most of it coming in a huge first half that helped Milwaukee build a lead.

Greg Lee led the way for WMU with a game-high 18.
 
"Balance was big with 11 guys contributing – that's going to be key for us the entire season," Baldwin said. "I don't know if we'll have a big-time scoring game from anyone, but what we've seen the last two games is we do have balance and guys can make shots and make plays."
 
A back-and-forth first half saw Milwaukee take control when it closed the period on a 13-4 scoring run to forge ahead at the break, 40-32.
 
"I was really happy with the way we finished the (first) half," Baldwin said. "That was really good and showed the resilience of our guys. That was really big for us, going into halftime with the lead."
 
The Panthers then built the margin to as many as nine points (49-40) in the second half, but saw that advantage trimmed all the way down to just two points with 5:19 to play at 58-56.
 
From there, the momentum swung, started with a floater by Donovan Newby with just over four minutes left to make it 60-56.
 
Lucas then stood tall. He converted a free throw and a spinning jumper in the lane to make it 63-57 and then found Courtney Brown Jr. in the corner for a three-pointer that gave MKE the 66-57 lead with 1:06 to go. Lucas then converted 5-of-6 free throws in the final 33 seconds to ice it.
 
Milwaukee shot 41.7 percent (25-of-60) for the day, but did half a tough time from long-range where it hit just 26.1 percent (6-of-23). WMU finished at 41.2 percent (21-of-51) for the contest, with the Panthers dominating the rebounding battle at 42-28.
 
Horizon League play starts next, with the Panthers scheduled for back-to-back contests at Green Bay next weekend. Game one now tips Saturday at 4 p.m. – that is a change from the originally scheduled time of 6 p.m.