MILWAUKEE – Chandler Jackson scored 23 points, and Stevie Elam came up with a huge steal and then put the game away with two free throws with just 1.5 seconds remaining to send the Milwaukee men's basketball team past Green Bay, 75-72, Sunday afternoon at UWM Panther Arena.
 
"We finished more plays in the second half," head coach Bart Lundy said. "It's been a struggle with us trying to find an identity with all of the injuries and to see Chandler (Jackson) have the week he has had … at Thanksgiving, he was going to redshirt and now he's averaged 24 points the past couple of games and really done a great job."
 
The Panthers (11-17, 7-10 Horizon League) put together a tale of two halves against the Phoenix (15-13, 10-7 Horizon League), scoring 50 points after intermission alone to overcome an eight-point second half deficit in the big comeback victory.
 
"We've had a little bit of a rocky road with this group," Lundy said. "Good coaches say you need to have a group that you can lose with – and we have done our share of losing over the past six weeks – and I tell you what, Stevie Elam, Chandler Jackson, and Pip (Esyah Pippa-White) … those guys are guys you love to win with but you can also lose with and this is the product of that because they just kept getting better and kept fighting. We won at IU Indy, but we needed this to get some momentum. Confidence is a crazy thing, and this is a confident group now."
 
The game included nine lead changes in the second half, with a pair of Amar Augillard free throws putting MKE ahead for the final time at 73-72 with 24.1 seconds left. Elam then stole the ball on Green Bay's driving attempt to send the game to overtime in the closing seconds and calmly sank his pair from the charity stripe to send the 4,363 fans in attendance home happy.
 
"Let's start with the crowd, first of all – that was a great crowd," Lundy said. "Thank you to the Milwaukee folks that came out and even thank you to the Green Bay fans. That's what it should be … an in-state rivalry – that was fantastic. That was great for our school and our program and we were are fortunate to come out on top."
 
Jackson finished with his 23 points on 6-of-10 shooting from the field, adding a perfect 8-for-8 showing from the line. He made 3-of-4 from distance, including a huge triple with 12 minutes remaining that put Milwaukee ahead for the first time at 47-45 and really helped the team turn the game around. He also added six rebounds.
 
Elam finished with 11 points, grabbing five boards. He also was perfect at the line, going 6-for-6 as the team finished the afternoon at 81.1 percent (30-of-37).
 
"And then Stevie (Elam) … the play at the end and then being able to sink the free throws," Lundy said. "That's a freshman. But I am not surprised he made that play."
 
Augillard chipped in nine points (7-7 FT). Faizon Fields added a statline of 8 points/7 rebounds, and Esyah Pippa-White added seven points and seven assists, with just one turnover.
 
Marcus Hall led GB with a game-high 32 points – setting a new career-best in the process – adding seven rebounds. Preston Ruedinger added 12 for the visitors.
 
Despite a slow start from the floor – MKE hit just one of its first 11 attempts – the Panthers stuck around with solid defense. Despite trailing by as many as eight at 21-13, the deficit at the break was six at 31-25.
 
"I thought the first half offensively, we really struggled," Lundy said. "I thought we were getting good looks, we just weren't playing with enough force inside, and we weren't making open three's."
 
Milwaukee fell behind by eight again on the first possession out of the locker room but came storming back. An 8-2 spurt made it a game and Jackson's three-pointer from the wing at the 12:27 mark put the Panthers ahead for the first time on the day at 47-45.
 
Back-and-forth it went. The Phoenix would post an 8-2 streak of its own, leading again by eight at 59-51, forcing a Lundy timeout.
 
The momentum turned just as quick, as nine unanswered had the Panthers back ahead at 60-59 on a pair of free throws from Fields with 6:00 to go.
 
GB put in five straight, yet Jackson kept up the comeback effort with another three to trim the deficit to just one at 69-68. Pippa-White calmly sank two free throws to inch ahead 71-70 before Augillard would do the same to stake MKE to the 73-72 advantage in the final minute, setting the stage for Elam's closing steal and charity tosses.
 
Despite the slow start, the Panthers finished at 42.2 percent (19-of-45) on the day, compared to 52.1 percent (25-of-48) for the visitors. Milwaukee connected on 46.7 percent (7-of-15) from deep and 81.1 percent (30-of-37) from the line – including an impressive 91.7 percent (22-of-24) after intermission. The Panthers committed just six turnovers on the day and pulled out their fifth win in the last six tries against the Phoenix despite leading for just one minute and 54 seconds on the day.
 
Up next, the Panthers hit the road for their final two away contests of the season, with a stop at Detroit Mercy Friday up next. Game time against the Titans is set for 6 p.m. CT.