MILWAUKEE – Purdue Fort Wayne slowly extended a 10-point halftime lead and pulled away briefly in the second period, eventually claiming an 81-71 victory over the Milwaukee men's basketball team Sunday afternoon at UWM Panther Arena.
 
The Panthers (9-20, 7-13 Horizon League) never gave in, trimming a late deficit in half down the stretch against a Mastodon team (18-10, 13-6 Horizon League) that came in as one of the hottest in the league, having now won 10 of 12 and seven in a row to climb into second place in the conference standings.
 
"If you are looking at the stats, you see that we shot the ball well (MKE shot 50 percent), but unfortunately, they shot the ball better," head coach Pat Baldwin said. "Especially in the first half, they really had it going. Their 40 points in the paint [for the game] was really evident of us not being able to guard as well as we need to. Normally, we are a pretty good defensive team and keep guys out of the paint. We need to see where our mistakes were, get better, and get prepared for our next game coming up."
 
Tafari Simms led the MKE offense with 14 points, tying for the team lead with six rebounds. Jordan Lathon chipped in 10 points (5-7 FG) and four rebounds, while Markeith Browning II had a solid performance off the bench, finishing with 10 points in 18 minutes of playing time.
 
Purdue Fort Wayne had five players end the afternoon in double-figures, led by a game-high 24 points from Jalon Pipkins.
 
The Dons led by 10 at the break and slowly extended their advantage following a Browning II jumper that made the score 52-44 with 14:08 remaining. The deficit then topped off at 78-58 with under four minutes to play. The Panthers made a furious rally and cut it to 10 with about 40 seconds left, but could get no closer as time ran out.
 
Back and forth early, Simms put Milwaukee up 12-10 on a jumper but was answered by a 6-0 PFW spurt that forced a timeout. The run eventually hit 11-3 to lead 21-15, but Milwaukee had another quick answer with Vin Baker Jr. off the bench, netting a quick five to bring the Panthers within four at 24-20.
 
The visitors slowly extended from there, using a 7-0 run to lead 40-28, which became 40-30 at intermission.
 
Milwaukee shot very well on the day, finishing at 50 percent (27-of-54) from the floor while also winning the rebounding battle by a final tally of 35-26. The normally stout defense was not as good today, allowing the 'Dons to connect on 54.2 percent (32-of-59) on the afternoon (62 percent in the second half), which included 11 makes from downtown that helped open it up. The visitors also rounded out the afternoon with a 40-34 advantage on points in the paint.
 
Up next, the regular season concludes with a pair of road games, heading to IUPUI next. Tip off Thursday is set for 7 p.m. CST.