MILWAUKEE – The Milwaukee men's basketball team finished strong, scoring eight of the final 10 points of the afternoon to claim a 71-63 victory over IUPUI Saturday at the Klotsche Center.
 
The Panthers (5-2, 4-1 Horizon League) used contributions from up-and-down the lineup to take control against the Jaguars (1-4, 0-4 Horizon League), moving to 4-1 in conference play for the first time since the 2011-12 season.
 
"This was a very good weekend for us," head coach Pat Baldwin said. "From yesterday to today, we understood what it meant to play in a game two like this in a back-to-back against a team that is hungry and has very good players. And we knew that we were going to be in a dogfight today."
 
Te'Jon Lucas led the way with 15 points, adding five rebounds and four assists.
 
Josh Thomas added 14 points and came up big down the stretch, scoring two of MKE's final three field goals. He added seven rebounds and three steals.
 
"We got down and our guys, just credit to them for fighting back and being resilient," Baldwin said. "We had difficulty with them covering the three-point line in the first half and in the second half we did a great job of contesting more of their shots. Overall, defensively, we did a much better job in the second half. This is a good win for our guys."
 
Jaylen Minnett paced the visitors with 24 points, with Elyjah Goss adding a double-double of 10 points and 13 rebounds.
 
With the Panthers leading most of the way, IUPUI pulled ahead on a Marcus Burk 3 at the 16:50 mark of the second half, forcing a Baldwin timeout. The Jags scoring run would go on to hit 12 unanswered and took the scoreboard line to 50-43 before MKE had a response.
 
Donovan Newby hit a three-pointer to snap the skid and Devon Hancock followed suit on the next possession. Newby's free throws put his team back ahead at the 10:41 mark, part of an 8-0 spurt.
 
The battle went back-and-forth from there, with eight second-half lead changes taking place before the Panthers would go ahead for good at 58-57 on a jumper from DeAndre Gholston at the 6:48 mark. Milwaukee would keep up the momentum the rest of the day to gain the final separation in the contest. 
 
The Panthers led by 10 on three different occasions in the first half, while also using an early 11-0 run to lead 11-3. Amir Allen doubled up the Panthers advantage at 18-9, with Hancock giving MKE its first double-digit spot at 22-12 on an elbow jumper. 
 
IUPUI used the three-pointer to keep pace, knocking down eight of them in the first 20 minutes After the lead was trimmed down to four, the Panthers pushed ahead again to 10 at 36-26 on a Grant Coleman bucket. The Jags made that disappear quickly, scoring 10 unanswered to make it a new game at 36-36. Lucas then beat the buzzer on a drive to the hoop to give Milwaukee the halftime edge at 40-38. 
 
MKE shot well again from the floor, connecting on 55.8 percent (29-of-52) overall to mark a season-high for the second straight day. The defense held the Jaguars to 40.7 percent (22-of-54), won the rebounding battle, 33-28, and outscored IUPUI in the paint to the tune of 34-16.
 
Up next, the Panthers are scheduled to remain at home, welcoming league newcomer Purdue Fort Wayne to the Klotsche Center January 15-16. Both games are scheduled to tip at 6 p.m.