MILWAUKEE – Tafari Simms scored a career-high 32 points and played a key role in a 19-0 second-half scoring run that helped the Milwaukee men's basketball team put away a 94-70 victory over IUPUI Friday afternoon at the Klotsche Center.
 
The Panthers (4-2, 3-1 Horizon League) let a 14-point first-half advantage slip away against the Jaguars (1-3, 0-3 Horizon League) before righting the ship and taking over the contest en route to their most points scored in regulation in nearly five seasons.
 
"In the second half, I just thought we got off to a slow start and IUPUI came back and took the lead," head coach Pat Baldwin said. "What I told the guys in the huddle is that it was going to be a dogfight. This wasn't going to be easy but I loved our fight. I loved our resiliency after going down and then reclaiming the lead. Today you saw the balance of our guys."
 
Simms was spectacular, finishing with those 32 points on 10-of-13 shooting overall, which included a 5-of-6 showing from three-point range. He added a team-high six rebounds and did it all in just 26 minutes off the bench. The final tally marked the most points for a Panther in over five years, since Akeem Springs went for 33 against Youngstown State back on January 7, 2016.
 
"Really proud and happy for Tafari and the game that he had," Baldwin said. "He really had a great stretch of basketball and we felt like he could do that, he just hadn't shown it to this point. Again, it just shows our balance. Now we have to get ready for game two."
 
DeAndre Gholston added 15 points, while Te'Jon Lucas finished with 14 points and eight assists.
 
Bobby Harvey paced the Jags with 18 points.
 
Safely ahead for much of the first half, Milwaukee saw the Jaguars dig back into the deficit and eventually pull ahead, 53-52, with just under 14 minutes remaining. Seven unanswered by the Panthers gave the team some control and breathing room, with an IUPUI bucket eventually trimming MKE's lead to 69-64 with 9:38 to play.
 
From there, it was all Milwaukee.
 
Simms was the catalyst, scoring 12 points of the 19-0 spree, including swish after swish on a trio of three-pointers. A pair of Simms free throws with 3:57 on the clock then capped the run and gave the Panthers the 88-64 advantage.
 
The team ended the day with 94 points, the highest total in a game that ended in regulation since netting 98 against UIC in the Horizon League Tournament back in February of 2016.
 
The day started a little back-and-forth early, with Lucas tying things at 7-7 in front of the first media timeout, part of a 7-0 run to lead 12-7. Lucas had a brilliant start to the game, either scoring or assisting the first 16 MKE points of the contest. 
 
The team added a major scoring run in the first half to lead as well, with a 16-3 stretch, capped by Josh Thomas three, forcing an IUPUI timeout at the 12:20 mark with Milwaukee ahead, 21-10. 
 
The team built lead to as many as 14 at 30-16, on a layup by Simms at the 8:19 mark. But IUPUI battled back into it, trimming the halftime deficit to six despite Milwaukee shooting 50 percent in the period.
 
Simms' outburst was noteworthy after coming into the day with just 12 total points through the first five games of the season. His 76.9 percent shooting (10-of-13/minimum 10 made field goals) tied for the fifth-best in a game in program history and his 83.3 percent effort (5-of-6/minimum 5 made three's) also checked in as the sixth-best single-game mark in school history from distance. His 32 points topped his collegiate-high of 21 set back in January of last season while with Western Texas College.
 
Milwaukee shot a season-high 52.5 percent (31-of-59) for the game, with its 56.5 percent (13-of-23) three-point shooting the best since a 57.1 percent (12-of-21) showing against Albany back in November of 2018 in a game played in Northern Ireland.
 
MKE won the rebounding battle, 39-33, and had a commanding 32-18 advantage in points in the paint as well as a 41-18 margin in bench points. 
 
These two teams return to the court tomorrow for the second game in the back-to-back series. Tip time will once again be 11 a.m.