MILWAUKEE – The Milwaukee men's basketball team jumped out to a 21-7 lead and never looked back, running out to an 89-54 victory over IUPUI at UWM Panther Arena Saturday afternoon.
 
"Good win," head coach Pat Baldwin said. "From start to finish, the guys played extremely hard and shot the ball pretty well and we did what we needed to do. Defensively, we got back to the standards that we have set for our team and hopefully we can continue with this type of production on the offensive end."
 
The Panthers (6-12, 4-5 Horizon League) finished the day shooting 62.3 percent (33-of-53) from the floor against the Jaguars (1-14, 0-6 Horizon League), a shooting percentage which finished as the seventh-best for a single-game in program history, while the 89 points also marked a season high for the team.
 
DeAndre Gholston led the offense with 21 points, with most of the damage coming from downtown after a 5-of-9 effort from three-point range.
 
Tafari Simms heated up for 19 points off the bench, finishing 7-of-9 from the floor and 4-of-4 from the free throw line.
 
"Give our guys credit," Baldwin said. "They took advantage and found holes and 13-for-25 (from three-point range) doesn't hurt either. When you get up, you want to expand and build on your lead and not let up and our guys were consistent throughout the game."
 
Donovan Newby added 9 points and a season-high six assists (0 turnovers), while Devon Hancock (8 points) and Joey St. Pierre (8 points/5 rebounds) were right behind. Vin Baker Jr. chipped in a statline of 7 points/6 rebounds/2 blocks, with 11 of the 12 players seeing action finding their way into the scoring column. Moses Bol also blocked a pair of shots and grabbed a season-high seven rebounds.
 
The defense was back to its league-leading ways, holding the Jags to 33.3 percent (18-of-54) from the floor on the day while not allowing a single member of the visiting team to record double-figures in the contest – Bakari LaStrap and Azariah Seay each led IUPUI with nine points.
 
"When you are doing a great job defensively, it gives yourself a chance to be in games and certainly to win," Baldwin said. "Moving on, we have a tough week next week and are looking forward to that challenge."
 
Milwaukee started quick and, after an initial Jaguars surge to turn the 7-2 lead by the home team into a new game at 7-7, it was all Panthers. They held IUPUI without a make on its first seven field goals and then put its foot on the gas to open up a lead. Gholston hit a three that made it 9-0 and forced a timeout at 16-7, but they were not done there. The scoring run topped out at 14-0, with a Newby field goal from downtown making it 21-7 at the time.
 
The defense was great in the first, holding IUPUI under 30 percent (.292) and held a 38-25 lead at intermission. The team struck quickly out of the second-half locker room, with a trio of 3's (two from Gholston; one from Newby) quickly extending the advantage.
 
It grew to 20 on a Gholston triple at 47-27, and then to 25 on a Hancock triple from the corner with just under 12 minutes left at 62-37.
 
The lead hit 30 on a St. Pierre dunk at 78-48 before topping out at 38 late.
 
The team hit 52 percent (13-of-25) on its three's and won the rebounding battle, 35-24. MKE outscored the opposition 28-16 in the paint, 15-4 off turnovers, 16-6 in second-chance and 10-1 on the fast break.
 
Up next, Milwaukee remains at home throughout the next week, returning to the court Thursday for a matchup with Oakland. Game time against the Golden Grizzlies is set for 7 p.m.