Lucas helps Panthers win Horizon opener
UW-Milwaukee is 1-0 in Horizon League play for the first time since the 2013-14 season, thanks mostly to do-everything senior guard Te'Jon Lucas.
Lucas scored 18 of his 21 points in the second half and completed a tough three-point play with 40.7 seconds remaining to give the Panthers just enough breathing room to outlast instate rival UW-Green Bay, 68-65, at the Kress Center on Saturday afternoon.
The Milwaukee Washington product also stuffed the rest of the stat sheet, per usual, with seven rebounds, six assists and three steals over 32 minutes in a second straight outstanding individual performance.
“That's the sign of a really good leader and a veteran, when they know there's more than one half of basketball that you have to play,” UWM coach Pat Baldwin said. “It was really good that he stepped up and made all the plays that he did.”
UWM (2-1) held a 28-27 halftime lead, but it was Phoenix guard Amari Davis who was stealing the show to that point with 15 points.
A steal and layup by Lucas 33 seconds into the second half foreshadowed the impact he'd have on the rest of the game.
He scored four straight points in a 12-0 Panthers run midway through the second half that was started by freshman Donovan Newby's three-pointer and three free throws after he was fouled on an attempt from beyond the arc.
A few minutes later Lucas scored on consecutive drives to open UWM's lead to 59-50 with 4 minutes 28 seconds left.
UWGB (0-5) responded by rattling off nine of the next 11 points to make it a 6159 game, setting up Lucas for the play of the game.
With the play broken down, Lucas eventually got the ball, drove to the freethrow line and released a jumper while being bumped with only 2 seconds on the shot clock.
The shot banked in, and Lucas finished off the sequence by hitting the free throw to give the Panthers a little breathing room at 64-59 with 40.7 seconds remaining.
“That was huge,” Baldwin said. “We were on our heels a little bit, they had cut it to two and we had run the shot clock down. To finish that off the glass and then hit the free throw, that gave us a little bit of a cushion.”
With 18.1 seconds left, two Lucas free throws gave UWM a seemingly commanding 68-59 lead.
But the Phoenix hit consecutive threes sandwiched around a Lucas miss at the free-throw line to make it 68-65, then with 3.6 seconds left Newby threw the ball away on the inbounds while trying to get it to Lucas.
Josh Jefferson missed a three coming out of a timeout, though, and UWM was finally able to breathe a sigh of relief.
“There's a lot of learning lessons in this game – especially late,” said Baldwin, whose team will match up with the Phoenix at 1 p.m. Sunday as well. “I'll put that on me. We had a guy that I trust a lot in Donovan Newby to make all the right decisions, but we didn't have him in that situation in practice.
“There's a lot we can get out of this, and we'll make the adjustments we need to and be ready for tomorrow.”
C.J. Wilbourn added 13 points for the Panthers, who utilized another balanced offensive performance with 10 of 11 players seeing the floor finding the scoring column.
UWM was out-rebounded for the first time in three games, 39-31, but limited UWGB to just 39.1% shooting and hit 14 of 18 free throws compared to an 8-for-11 day for the Phoenix.
Jefferson (21 points) and Davis (18) accounted for 39 of UWGB's 65 points.