CLEVELAND, Ohio – The Milwaukee men's basketball team used a key second-half scoring run and clamped down on defense after halftime to claim a come-from-behind 71-68 victory over Cleveland State Wednesday night at the Wolstein Center.
 
"The guys were great," head coach Bart Lundy said. "They came together with a huge team effort. It was the best that our bench has been all year – the spirit was great and we made plays when we needed them to make plays."
 
The Panthers (13-13, 8-7 Horizon League) took the floor down a starter right before gametime when BJ Freeman was unable to give it a go and came up big down the stretch, handing the Vikings (15-11, 8-7 Horizon League) just their second loss at home in the past 13 months.
 
"Not many teams in our league are going to get that win," Lundy said. "So it's one that maybe gets a tie-break at some point and propels us on this final stretch when we have four of five at home to close out the regular season."
 
Faizon Fields led four players in double-figures with 17 points, adding seven rebounds and a pair of blocks.
 
Erik Pratt contributed 13 points and four boards, coming up huge when he swished a pair of free throws with just 11.6 seconds remaining to push the MKE lead to four at 70-66.
 
Elijah Jamison added 11 points and four rebounds, hitting the basket of the night when he buried a three-pointer from the corner as the shot clock was expiring to extend the lead to 65-61 with just 2:55 remaining.
 
Learic Davis came through with a season-high 10 point outing, while tying season-bests with four rebounds and a pair of blocks – including a highlight reel effort from behind on a fast break off the backboard and back into play to help jumpstart the second-half comeback.
 
"He covered up a lot of things … high-level contests on shots and then when he gets going downhill – especially on the fastbreak – he's really hard to stop," Lundy said of Davis.
 
Kentrell Pullian just missed a double-double, finishing with nine points while tying his career-high with 12 rebounds. Tristan Enaruna led CSU with a game-high 20 points and eight boards.
 
"I thought we were very determined and we made enormous plays – Learic's block after the turnover, KP's (Kentrell Pullian) three, Elijah (Jamison) made a three at the end of the shot clock which was huge," Lundy said. "And Erik (Pratt) made free throws down the stretch so it was a complete team effort."
 
Down six at the break at 37-31, the MKE offense came out with two quick baskets to help regain its footing. The Vikes pushed the lead back to 46-39 before the Panthers would take over following the Davis block which proved to be the turning point of the night.
 
Davis got a layup, Jamison hit a three, and four free throws from Fields made it a new game at 48-48. Kentrell Pullian then capped a 12-2 scoring run with a huge three from the top, handing Milwaukee its first lead of the second half at 51-48 with 10:38 remining.
 
Back-and-forth from there, the final deadlock of the night came at 61-all, seeing MKE get the next six – including that pivotal three-pointer from Jamison – to lead 67-61.
 
An Enaruna 3-point play made it 68-66 but Pratt would sink his tosses from the charity stripe in the closing seconds and the defense would fend off a final chance to tie to pick up the big road victory and complete the season sweep of the Vikings.
 
With just 10 players in uniform, Dominic Ham was called on for his first career start, coming up with three points and five rebounds in a career-high 21:02 on the court.
 
The offense ended the night at 50 percent on the head (26-of-52), and out-rebounded the Vikes by 10 at 45-35. The defense showed up again tonight, limiting CSU to 34.2 percent in the second half and 37.1 percent (26-of-70) for the contest – the sixth time in the past seven games that the Milwaukee held its opponent below 40 percent.
 
Up next, the team returns home Saturday to welcome Northern Kentucky, set for a 7 p.m. tip time at UWM Panther Arena.