MILWAUKEE – Seth Hubbard led the way with 21 points and made a tip-in with 0.2 seconds remaining to send the Milwaukee men's basketball team past Robert Morris in a thriller, 74-72, Saturday night at UWM Panther Arena.
 
The Panthers (4-5, 1-0 Horizon League) overcame a 12-point second-half deficit and won at the buzzer against the Colonials (7-4, 1-1 Horizon League), with Hubbard sending the fans home happy with his game-winner on a rebound putback, making the shot one-handed – sending the rebound of a three-pointer back into the net all in one motion with his left hand as the buzzer sounded.
 
"I knew it kind of had a chance," Hubbard said of the shot in the postgame press conference. "My mind was just 'crash', because that's what I am taught to do in practice. I just saw the ball, and I knew I had to get it up somehow, so I'm gonna just tip it in and God kinda took it from there."
 
After a check of the clock, 0.2 was added but RMU missed its desperation attempt as the Panthers knocked off last year's defending regular-season and tournament champion to start Horizon League play off with a victory.
 
"The play was exactly as I drew it up," head coach Bart Lundy laughed. "We had good spacing and we had as good of a situation as we could get. We did have a timeout, but it didn't make any sense to call it. Zay (Isaiah Dorceus) got a decent look, and Seth had gotten to a corner and a great crash. Seth's athleticism and his ability to get his left hand on the ball – just a phenomenal play."
 
Hubbard finished with 21 points, making 9-of-10 shots from the free throw line while adding five rebounds and a pair of assists.
 
Aaron Franklin was huge off the bench, scoring 12 points and grabbing six rebounds in his 20 minutes of important time on the court.
 
Isaiah Dorceus was also in double-figures with 11, chipping in five assists and three boards.
 
"I thought we showed the best grit that we have all year in the second half," Lundy said. "We finally had a week of practice here where we could focus on the things we had learned over this tough road stretch. And had enough healthy bodies to actually do that. Aaron Franklin came and I thought his energy and intensity and his communication really changed us defensively. I know he scored some baskets, but it was what he did defensively and on the glass that really changed the game. Holding them to 29 percent in the second half, 10 percent from three, those are the type of efforts that can make us a championship team. And this was a championship game – that's a really good team that we just beat, and they are going to win a lot of games."
 
DeSean Goode led RMU with a career-high 26 points, making 9-of-12 from the floor while adding eight boards. Ta'Zir Smith was also in double-figures with 12. The team saw its four-game winning streak snapped with the decision.
 
A back-and-forth affair for much of the first half, the Colonials used an 18-5 scoring run spanning both halves to turn a 34-33 deficit into their biggest lead of the night, taking the 51-39 advantage at the 16:19 mark of the second.
 
However, Milwaukee responded with a dominant answer, reeling off 11 straight points as part of a 15-3 run that made it a new game at 54-54 on a Franklin free throw with 10:35 remaining. The scoring run then grew to 26-8 as the MKE lead went as high as seven at 65-58 on a Dorceus three-pointer.
 
The key to the big second-half push was defense, as Milwaukee held RMU to just 29.0 percent (9-of-31) after halftime and just 1-of-10 on three's in the second half.
 
With time running down and Milwaukee up two, the visitors tied the game at 72-all with 10 seconds remaining. The Panthers did not take a timeout and had a look on a Dorceus shot from downtown with three seconds to play. The ball bounded off the rim to Hubbard, who got to play the hero roll when he made the amazing game-winner on the rebound.
 
For the game, the MKE offense checked in at 38.3 percent (23-of-60) overall, making eight 3's and 71.4 percent (20-of-28) from the line. RMU won the rebound battle with a 38-36 edge and finished at 41.0 percent (25-of-61) overall and 26.3 percent (5-of-19) from deep.
 
Up next, the Panthers remain home but dip back into non-league play, welcoming Indiana State to town on Sunday, Dec. 14. Game time against the Sycamores is set for 1 p.m.