MILWAUKEE – Themus Fulks scored a career-high 26 points and the Milwaukee men's basketball team went on a late run before closing out an 88-81 victory over IU Indianapolis from the free throw line Sunday afternoon at the Klotsche Center.
 
The Panthers (10-4, 3-0 Horizon League) used a late 11-2 run to take control down the stretch and then capped a hard-fought victory over the new-look Jaguars (5-10, 1-3 Horizon League) by making 11-of-12 free throws over the final 85 seconds of regulation to improve to 3-0 in league play for the first time since the 2011-12 campaign.
 
"We knew going in that IU Indy has a veteran team," head coach Bart Lundy said. "They are all new (to their team), but not all new. They are tough, their coach is tough – he has coached a lot of games and knows the league. Their record is not indicative of their team and I expect, when we play them again, that their record will look different."
 
The victory extended numerous streaks, improving the team to 7-0 at home this season and a perfect 5-0 in the month of December to mark the first undefeated month for the program since a 7-0 ledger in February 2005. Dating back to last season, the Panthers have now won 10 consecutive games played at home – the longest streak since ripping off a streak of 25 straight that was snapped in the 2005-06 season.
 
"Coming off the (Christmas) break, I thought our effort and energy was good," Lundy said. "Going the entire month of December, these guys should be proud – it's the first time since 2005 to go a whole month without a loss. So hopefully we can continue to grow our crowd and get support from the city because I think these guys are playing their tails off."
 
Fulks went 6-of-10 from the floor and an impressive 14-of-16 from the line to edge past his former career-best of 25 (against Toledo back in November 2023), adding five assists and five rebounds to his stat line.
 
Jamichael Stillwell added some more school history, establishing a new program record with his fifth-straight double-double, closing strong to finish at 10 points while adding 13 rebounds. That broke the former mark of four set last season by BJ Freeman. It's also his ninth double-double of the 2024-25 season to already tie the program mark for a season and currently rank No. 2 in the NCAA.
 
"Congratulations to him for setting the school record for double-doubles," Lundy said. "That's what this will be remembered for with him. But I will remember it for him fighting through all of the screens and really stop zero (Paul Zilinskas) when we needed stops and they were really going to him at the end."
 
Kentrell Pullian came through with a big afternoon, finishing with 20 points while adding four rebounds and three assists. Erik Pratt came off the bench to chip in 11 points and was a big spark early after IU Indy built a lead to as many as seven at one point in the opening half.
 
Sean Craig led the Jags with 22 points and grabbed eight rebounds. Paul Zilinskas added 21 points for a team with a new head coach as well as an entirely new roster this season.
 
A close game throughout that featured 16 ties and seven lead changes, the second half never saw either team lead by more than three until the decisive MKE scoring run.
 
Down, 70-68, with just over four minutes to play, Darius Duffy made a tough layup to draw even and then Stillwell picked Zilinskas' pocket for a steal on the next possession and went coast-to-coast for a fastbreak dunk and the team never trailed the rest of the way.
 
Stillwell hit a tough layup next and Fulks made four shots from the line to cap the 11-2 run to make it 79-72 with 1:25 remaining. The team then took care of business the rest of the way from the charity stripe to ice the decision.
 
For the game, the MKE offense finished at 53.8 percent (28-of-52) from the floor overall, connecting on 33.3 percent (5-of-15) from deep and 73.0 percent (27-of-37) from the line. The Jags checked in at 47.6 percent (30-of-63) overall and made seven 3's, but Milwaukee won big on the boards (36-26) and in fastbreak points (31-5) to run its current overall win streak to five as well.
 
Up next, the Panthers set their sights on Horizon League play the rest of the way, opening 2025 against Oakland on the road on Thursday. Game time is set for 6 p.m. CT.