MILWAUKEE – Donovan Newby scored all of his team-high 15 points in the second half to lead the charge as the Milwaukee men's basketball team overcame a 10-point second half deficit in claiming a 60-57 victory over Wright State Friday night on ESPNU at UWM Panther Arena.
"Very proud of our guys for this win tonight," head coach
Pat Baldwin said. "It was a great bounce-back from a couple of days ago when we didn't play as well. It was a great defensive effort as well – I think that was the catalyst to us getting the win tonight and then we backed it up with some good offensive plays."
The Panthers (8-18, 6-11 Horizon League) held the Raiders (15-11, 12-5 Horizon League) to 29 percent shooting on the night, the fifth time this season they have held an opponent under 30 percent. They also held Tanner Holden – who came into the game second in the Horizon League at 20.6 ppg – to just eight points on 4-of-16 shooting.
"Great win and we have another one coming up that we have to get ready for, so not too much time to dwell on this one," Baldwin said.
Newby came alive down the stretch, hitting big shot after big shot. His biggest field goal was a 3-pointer that capped a 13-2 run and gave MKE the 50-45 advantage with under 5 minutes to play, never giving up the lead the rest of the way.
Tafari Simms finished with his first double-double as a Panther, recording 12 points and a career-best 10 rebounds. He also came up with one of the plays of the game, faking a shot before drilling a three-pointer from the corner as the shot clock expired to give Milwaukee a 55-49 lead with 1:38 to play.
Newby scored the 15 points on 5-10 FG-shooting, adding three rebounds in just 21 minutes of action.
DeAndre Gholston was also in double-figures with 11 points.
Trey Calvin paced the Raiders with 18, while Pewaukee-native Grant Basile finished with a double-double of 16 points and 11 rebounds.
WSU led by 10 on a pair of occasions, including 35-25. Newby's first three of the night made it 35-28 and the comeback was on. First was an 11-3 spurt, capped by a Gholston layup that pulled MKE within two at 38-36 with just under 12 to play. A Gholston 3 made it a one-point game at 43-42 and the team went ahead for the first time in the second on an elbow jumper from Newby.
After WSU cut the deficit to 55-52 with 85 seconds remaining, the Panthers went 5-of-6 from the line the final 57 seconds to put the game away and snap the WSU four-game winning streak it had coming into play tonight.
Milwaukee came out red-hot, sinking its first four shots to lead 8-2 out of the gates. The team stayed warm, sinking six of first nine before trading punches for a while. The game was tied at 12-all and again at 21-all with 4:40 remaining.
Joey St. Pierre gave MKE its final lead of the period, edging ahead 23-22. From there it was all WSU, putting up the next seven with a Basile dunk forcing a timeout. The Raiders scored the final nine of the period to take a 31-23 advantage into the locker room.
Moses Bol chipped in six points and seven rebounds, while St. Pierre added seven and seven.
Patrick Baldwin Jr. was a late scratch and did not dress.
The Panthers finished the night at 38.7 percent (24-of-62) overall from the floor, out-rebounding the visitors by a count of 50-42, just one off their season-high for rebounds. Wright State was held to 29.0 percent (20-of-69).
Up next, the Panthers play their third game in five days Sunday, welcoming Green Bay downtown. Game time against the Phoenix is set for 1 p.m.
