DAYTON, Ohio – DeAndre Gholston scored a career-high 31 points and the Milwaukee men's basketball team overcame a 24-point deficit in the final 6:26 of regulation to claim a stunning 94-92 victory over Wright State in overtime Tuesday at the Nutter Center.
Gholston came up huge all night, hitting the game-tying three-pointer to force overtime with 1.8 seconds left in regulation, as well as going 6-for-6 from the free throw line in the final 38.7 seconds of overtime to help Milwaukee claim a comeback for the ages.
"Happy for our guys, because they displayed a tremendous amount of toughness. They did this against, in my opinion, the best team in our league," head coach
Pat Baldwin said. "To come back in the fashion that we did, with everybody contributing, this was a big win. And our guys deserve a lot of credit because they didn't quit and continued to fight. And we've seen this story before, just a new book."
Gholston scored 26 of his 31 points in the second half and overtime, adding nine rebounds.
"We know that we have bigger and better things that we want to accomplish as well," Baldwin said. "But this is a big-time win for our team."
Te'Jon Lucas finished with 25 points, adding five assists.
Josh Thomas was also in double-figures with 14, including a key late three-pointer that helped set up the shot to force overtime.
Grant Basile put together a career-best effort, finishing with new highs with 35 points and 14 rebounds. MKE held Loudon Love to 14 points.
The Panthers (10-11), who trailed the Raiders (18-6) by 21 in the first half, had cut the lead down to 11 midway through the second half before a 13-0 WSU scoring run pushed the margin back to 24 at 72-48 with 6:26 to play.
That was when the magic started.
Lucas made a pair of free throws, hit a jumper on the next possession and then turned a steal into a layup for six quick points. On the ensuing WSU possession, a bust-out led by Lucas gave Thomas a dunk and the comeback was on.
The Raiders obliged with some misses from the free throw line, with Lucas connecting on a three and Gholston and Thomas converting layups. Four made free throws capped what was a 19-1 run before WSU would finally make a field goal. Lucas had the answer, hitting another three to get within five at 75-70.
Thomas' late three-pointer had MKE within one, setting the stage for Gholston to tie after the Raiders converted a pair. Lucas found him on the left wing, connecting on the long attempt to knot it at 81-all.
In the overtime, MKE trailed early but used the free throw line as its best friend. Gholston hit a triple to cut the deficit to 87-86 and
Amir Allen hit a pair of free throws to make it one again. From there it was all Gholston. His first two gave the Panthers the lead at 90-89 – their first lead since 2-0.
The stunning comeback marked just the sixth game in NCAA Division I history that saw a team rally from at least 18 points down in the final five minutes to win, per NCAA Director of Media Coordination/Statistics David Worlock.
In the beginning, Lucas scored the first hoop of the evening only to see WSU respond with seven unanswered to jump out quickly. A 6-0 spurt extended the advantage to 15-7, forcing a Milwaukee timeout. The Raiders then doubled up the score at 20-10 and, after sticking around 10 for an extended period of time, grew their lead significantly on the strength of a 10-0 scoring run.
That made it 37-18, with a Gholston three at the halftime buzzer cutting the margin to 44-26. Basile (15) and Love (10) played a key role in the first 20 minutes, combining for 25 points.
With the win, the team advances to Indianapolis for the semifinals of the Horizon League Championships next week, scheduled to battle top-seeded Cleveland State in a game set for a 5:30 p.m. CST tip at Indiana Farmers Coliseum on ESPNU Monday.
