CLEVELAND, Ohio – BJ Freeman scored a game-high 24 points – including a three-pointer with 1.3 seconds left in regulation to send the game to overtime – to help the Milwaukee men's basketball team claim an impressive 68-64 road victory over Cleveland State Thursday night at the Wolstein Center.
The Panthers (10-5, 4-1 Horizon League) trailed by nine points with 11 minutes to play, yet calmly found a way to take the Vikings (8-8, 3-2 Horizon League) to overtime before claiming another road conference victory that moved them into second place in the league standings by themselves.
"We talked about it at halftime," head coach
Bart Lundy said. "We had to be gritty and get some stops. It was kind of a rock fight the whole time. They got us pretty good on the offensive glass to start the second half but I thought we cleaned that up and then our pressure wore them down a little bit. We were able to see some shots go in and got contributions from everyone … just a great team effort."
The two-time defending Horizon League regular-season champs had Milwaukee in a tough spot, but Freeman came up big time and time again, including on the final possession of regulation to make it a new game at 56-56 and force the extra session.
Freeman scored his career-high 24 points on 9-of-18 shooting, sinking five 3's while also collecting six rebounds.
Justin Thomas came up big at the end of regulation and in overtime, finishing with a statline of 9 points/4 rebounds/3 assists.
Ahmad Rand was at it again, blocking four more shots while finishing with eight points and five boards.
"He made big play after big play," Lundy said of Thomas. "He's so calm and casual at times and then when the game is on the line, he comes up big."
With 9.9 seconds left, the Panthers inbounded the ball and found Freeman in the corner. A dribble to his right helped him lose his defender and allowed for an open three. The first attempt rimmed out, but Thomas flew into the lane, rebounded the miss and threw it back to Freeman before even hitting the ground.
The second attempt was all net, sending the game to OT.
"I thought BJ was going to make the first one," Lundy said. "Then, phenomenal rebound and pass all in one motion from Justin and then I don't think anybody on that bench didn't think that second ball was for sure going in. BJ takes and makes big shots and we believe in him."
Rand opened OT with a dunk and then, after falling behind, Thomas came up with a big three from the top to cut the deficit to one at 64-63. Freeman put MKE ahead for good on a drive and Thomas iced the victory from the line in the closing seconds. At 10-5 overall, Milwaukee has earned its best record after 15 games in seven years and has now claimed three of its four league victories on the young season on the road. The 10 victories overall also match the win total from all of last season.
"We knew this is about as tough of a stretch that you can have to start league play," Lundy said. "We talked about every road win being like a piece of gold. So, we are going to take this gold, put it in our bag, and keep moving."
Cleveland State started strong, leading 7-0 before a Freeman three helped the team break the ice. A Freeman putback on the break gave the Panthers their first lead of the day at 15-13 but a CSU scoring run gave the Vikes a slim halftime advantage.
They would add to it to start the second, building the margin to as many as nine at 44-35 before the Milwaukee comeback started. Freeman also gave MKE a short-lived lead at 53-52 with 66 seconds left to cap what was an 18-8 scoring run at the time.
Both defenses showed up, holding the opponent to under 40 percent from the floor overall (MKE .370/CSU .329). Rebounds were even (48-48), while Freeman led a 46-10 advantage in bench points.
Tristan Enaruna led CSU with 16 points.
Up next, the Panthers close out their current four-game road trek with a stop at Purdue Fort Wayne Jan. 7. That game against the Mastodons will tip off at 12 p.m. CST.
