MILWAUKEE – The Milwaukee men's basketball team erased much of a 13-point deficit and had it down to a one-possession game late before Oakland hit a huge three-pointer with the shot clock expiring with under a minute to play to help lock up a 72-64 victory Thursday night at the Klotsche Center.
 
The Panthers (21-11) made it a game down the stretch against the Golden Grizzlies (16-17) but were unable to take advantage of key opportunities to climb all the way back in suffering the postseason setback in front of a packed house on-campus.
 
"Congratulations to Oakland," head coach Bart Lundy said. "Coach Kampe is a class act and an excellent coach. He has kind of had our number and ends our season for the second year in a row. I have a lot of respect for them and their players. To our fans, I know not everybody was happy about the decision to play at the K (on-campus Klotsche Center), but the atmosphere was exactly what I had hoped for and the fans were exactly as I hoped they would be. I am sorry, and I know that our players are sorry that their performance wasn't what we wanted it to be."
 
Themus Fulks led the way for Milwaukee with 20 points, adding six assists. Jamichael Stillwell finished with 16 points and eight rebounds, AJ McKee contributed 13 points and John Lovelace Jr. was key off the bench, sparking the second-half comeback in finishing with 11 points, including a 3-for-3 effort from beyond the three-point line.
 
"I think that is the hard thing, we leave the gym, we leave the season, knowing that we didn't play our best game," Lundy said. "If you play your best game and you lose, it's never easy to take, but a little easier to take. We obviously had trouble making the plays that we needed to make – the free throws and open shots that could have gone in that went in for them and didn't go in for us."
 
Allen David Mukeba led the defending Horizon League champions with a game-high 21 points on a perfect night shooting, finishing 9-for-9 from the floor and 3-for-3 from the line, adding seven rebounds. Tuburu Naivalurua added 20 points for the visitors.
 
The Panthers fell behind early, trailing 23-13 but quickly found themselves back in it, getting all the way back to 35-31 before OU scored the final four points of the half to lead at the break, 39-31.
 
The Grizz would build their advantage back to 13 at 54-41 before MKE found a much-needed spark. Lovelace hit back-to-back triples and, after a hoop by the visitors, connected again from deep to bring the team back within six at 56-50.
 
A few minutes later, a 5-0 spurt on a three by McKee and a jumper from Stillwell got the deficit down to just two at 62-60, with the team missing a three that would have given them the lead after a defensive stop.
 
A one-possession game after a Stillwell offensive rebound and putback at 67-64 with 1:22 to play, Oakland got the biggest shot of the game from Jaylen Jones, who sank a dagger three-pointer with the shot clock ticking down to two seconds to essentially put the game away at 70-64 with under a minute to play.
 
The result likely brings an end to a very successful campaign for the Panthers, who won 20+ games for a third consecutive campaign.
 
"I know we had a great crowd for the Wright State game two years ago, but we have never had a crowd that loud here – I haven't seen that," Lundy said. "So, it was amazing to see and to feel. This team is going to leave the season and be really disappointed and I am disappointed as well. They have a lot to be proud of … those seniors have a lot to be proud of … it's going to end up being the highest NET-ranked team since the Sweet 16 team. It's just disappointing that they don't get to advance. And Oakland outplayed us tonight."
 
For the game, both teams finished a dead-even 51.9 percent (both 28-of-54) from the floor overall, with OU making seven three's to MKE's five. A huge difference came at the free throw line, where Oakland was a perfect 9-of-9, compared to just 25 percent (3-of-12) for Milwaukee.
 
The possibility remains for the program to play in a potential postseason tournament via invitation, with that to be decided in the near future.