ROCHESTER, Mich. – The Milwaukee men's basketball team led by six points with under nine minutes remaining, but a large scoring run by Oakland sent the home team to a 75-68 victory Friday night at the O'rena.
The Panthers (12-15, 7-8 Horizon League) extended their advantage to 58-52 before the Golden Grizzlies (11-17, 6-9 Horizon League) turned the game around, using a 17-1 scoring run to take control and earn the key league victory.
"I think anywhere you go on the road, it's tough, especially in a place like this where they have a good crowd and a good team," head coach
Pat Baldwin said. "We had a lead and, unfortunately, couldn't sustain the momentum we had built up in the second half. We have to do a better job taking care of leads and being disciplined on the defensive end and not putting them on the free throw line."
Darius Roy paced the offense with 18 points, which included six rebounds and a 75-foot buzzer-beater at halftime that put the Panthers ahead at the time.
DeAndre Abram added 16 points off the bench, finishing a rebound short of a double-double with a team-best nine boards.
Josh Thomas also finished in double-figures, scoring 14.
"It's an unforgiving league," Baldwin said. "We have a day of rest and have to get right back after it. We have to shut this one out and get ready for the next one."
Xavier Hill-Mais led OU with 23 points, finishing with one of two double-doubles on the home team by adding 11 rebounds.
The OU defense held
Te'Jon Lucas to just three points and six shot attempts, but Lucas did contribute a game-high eight assists and added three steals.
"Unfortunately, Te'Jon didn't score like he had been in previous games," Baldwin said. "But, we had other guys step up – Darius (Roy) played well and Dre (Abram) came off the bench and gave us 16. C.J. (Wilbourn) had eight points … so other guys stepped up and made plays, just not enough of them."
Milwaukee pushed back late and had the deficit down to four, at 69-65, with 1:11 to go, but could get no closer. Oakland made 4-of-6 from the line to extend its winning streak to three games.
The game was tight the entire way, featuring six ties and a dozen lead changes.
Back-and-forth to start the second half, a Thomas three made it 49-45 and a three-point play from
C.J. Wilbourn gave MKE its biggest lead of the night at 58-52 with 8:58 to play.
A quick five straight cut into the margin, part of that larger decisive scoring run.
Roy made the seventh lead change of the first half a memorable one, connecting on a shot from just past the opposite free throw line to give the team the 35-34 advantage at intermission.
That helped a slow start, as the Panthers were down 7-3 early. An emphatic slam from Abram stemmed the tide at 11-7, part of nine consecutive MKE points for Abram. A three-pointer from Roy capped what was an 11-2 run and made it 21-19 at the 7:39 mark of the first.
The Panthers made 10 more 3's, finishing at 40.3 percent (25-of-62) from the floor overall. Oakland shot 50 percent (25-of-50) and attempted 17 more free throws than MKE did. The Grizzlies led the rebound comparison, 38-31, and scored more points in the paint at 30-24.
Up next, the Panthers remain in Michigan for their last regular-season road game, taking on Detroit Mercy in a Sunday matinee tipping off at 12 p.m. CST.
