FORT WAYNE, Ind. – The Milwaukee men's basketball team steadily built a lead to as many as 10 points in the second half, but was unable to close out the game in falling to Purdue Fort Wayne, 70-60, Friday night at Memorial Coliseum.
 
The Panthers (7-16, 5-9 Horizon League) played well while building that advantage, only to see the Mastodons (12-10, 7-6 Horizon League) use a large scoring run to flip the script and escape with the important victory in the conference standings. After going back-and-forth in the closing minutes, Purdue Fort Wayne went 6-for-6 from the line in the final 58 seconds to secure it.
 
"Our guys played hard for the majority of the game and then we had a stretch where we just didn't make the right plays," head coach Pat Baldwin said. "We had some turnovers that led to baskets for them and that kind of sealed our fate. We have to learn from this, but we just need to complete a full game to win one like this."
 
DeAndre Gholston led the way for Milwaukee with 22 points, connecting on half of his eight attempts from long range.
 
Patrick Baldwin Jr., back on the court for the first time since January 5 after dealing with injury, was also in double-figures after finishing with 13 points.
 
Jordan Lathon added a solid line of 9 points/8 rebounds/6 assists.
 
Jalon Pipkins paced four PFW players in double-figures with 15 points, adding a team-best seven rebounds.
 
After putting together a solid effort for three-fourths of the evening, Milwaukee enjoyed a 49-41 advantage with just over nine minutes left on a layup by Joey St. Pierre.
 
The Mastodons dug in and fought back, finding eight straight to get back in it before another St. Pierre layup saw MKE take its final lead at 53-49 before Purdue Fort Wayne ripped off the decisive run down the stretch. The home team made four of its next six shots and combined that with four Milwaukee turnovers to score 19 of the next 23 points in building a 60-53 advantage with 4:06 to play.
 
"The turnovers happened at the wrong times," Baldwin said. "It led to their run, it led to some open baskets and when you don't have a set defense and you're going back 3-on-2 or you just turned the basketball over, it makes it hard to get stops that way. We have to value the basketball more and if we do that, I think it's a different ball game."
 
A PBJ 3-pointer trimmed it to 62-58 but that was as close as it would get late, with the 'Dons converting from the line to ice it.
 
The Panthers got off to a decent start, leading 6-0 on a dunk from Joey St. Pierre before falling behind. The three-pointer helped them grab a few leads next, edging ahead 11-10 on a triple from Donovan Newby and then again at 14-12 on a  three from Gholston. The squad was back ahead 21-19 on PBJ dunk and again at 23-20 on dunk by Gholston, with a pair of Baldwin Jr. free throws capping a 12-2 run to lead, 28-21.
 
For the game, Milwaukee finished at 41.4 percent (24-of-58) from the floor, holding PFW to a similar number at 41.8 (23-of-55). The Mastodons turned 17 turnovers into 21 big points and enjoyed a large advantage from the free-throw line (16-23 compared to 5-6 for MKE).
 
The road trip wraps up Sunday, with MKE making the trip to Ohio to battle Cleveland State. Tip off against the Vikings is set for 2 p.m. CST.