MILWAUKEE – Themus Fulks scored the 1,000^th point of his NCAA Division I career and led the way with 14 points to help the Milwaukee men's basketball team to a 70-59 victory over Green Bay Saturday afternoon at the UWM Panther Arena.
 
The Panthers (12-6, 5-2 Horizon League) grinded out the home victory over the Phoenix (2-16, 0-7 Horizon League) to win for the fourth straight time in the series and improve to a perfect 8-0 in home games this season.
 
"Green Bay has gotten a lot better and they added a couple of players," head coach Bart Lundy said. "They had a week to prep and we saw some different offensive stuff (from them). It's like any league game or rivalry game … it's going to be a battle. I thought we suffered through not an exceptional offensive night and found a way from the free throw line."
 
Fulks, who also scored 579 points in his one season in junior college, came into the contest at 992 for his NCAA DI career. His two free throws with 8:36 left in regulation gave him the 1,000 and made him the 31^st player to reach 1,000 in a Panther uniform.
 
He finished a perfect 12-for-12 from the line, giving him the third-most makes in a game in program history without a miss – including four of them in the final 70 seconds of the game to secure the victory.
 
Milwaukee led by as many as 14 points in the second half, but the Phoenix never went away and cut the deficit down to just five at 64-59 with 1:10 to go. However, Fulks connected on four and Kentrell Pullian two more to go 6-for-6 while holding the visitors scoreless the rest of the way to claim the win.
 
Fulks added six rebounds and five assists to his milestone effort.
 
Pullian was huge, contributing his third double-double of the season when he finished with 13 points and 10 rebounds.
 
John Lovelace Jr. earned a spot in the starting lineup with Jamichael Stillwell out for the day with injury and responded with 10 points – including a huge 3-pointer that pushed the lead back to double-figures at the time at 58-47 with 6:31 to play.
 
Erik Pratt finished with 10 points, five rebounds, two assists, and four steals for a solid all-around performance.
 
"Congratulations to Themus on his 1,000^th point and 12-for12 from the line,' Lundy said. "Erik Pratt was +21 and had a really good game. Johnny Lovelace got his second career start in college and I thought defensively, especially, he was great. And I can't say enough about KP [Pullian] … 10 defensive rebounds without Jamichael and we needed every one of them."
 
Marcus Hall and Yonatan Levy led the way for Green Bay with 15 points, seeing the team drop its 13^th consecutive decision this season.
 
The game was tight all afternoon, with the MKE offense making numerous attempts at building an significant advantage but could never get over the hump.
 
Pratt swished a triple to make it 61-49 but GB responded one final time and would go on to score eight of the next nine points of the afternoon to cut the hole to five at 62-57 before the comeback was stopped.
 
The Panthers finished the day at 43.8 percent (21-of-48) from the floor overall and made 76.7 percent (23-of-30) from the free throw line. The Phoenix was at 42.6 percent (20-of-47). The home side won the rebound battle, 33-28, and turned the ball over just 10 times on the day.
 
Up next, the team remains at UWM Panther Arena, welcoming first-place Youngstown State Friday. Game time against the Penguins is set for 7 p.m.