Panthers finally end postseason slide
For the first time in nearly three years, UW-Milwaukee is moving on in the postseason.
The Panthers got double-digit scoring efforts from four players and took advantage of a big disparity at the free-throw line to beat IUPUI for the fourth time in five tries this season, 84-72, in a firstround Horizon League tournament matchup at the Klotsche Center on Thursday.
Te'Jon Lucas scored 22 points, DeAndre Gholston 20 and Josh Thomas and Amir Allen 13 for UWM (9-11), which won a tournament game for the first time since March 4, 2018.
"It means a lot," said UWM coach Pat Baldwin. "Obviously you want to win and advance and give yourself an opportunity to put yourself in a great position. Now, we're right back where we were a few years ago.
"Our guys, they don't want anything to end. They're playing hard and we're just going to give our greatest effort and see what happens once we're there. "This is a fun time of year."
The Panthers also held the ninth-seeded Jaguars to just one field goal over the final 8 minutes 6 seconds of the first half to build a 13-point halftime lead and rode a 24-for-33 effort at the free-throw line — including 12 for 15 over the final 5:22.
As a result, the eighth-seeded Panthers have advanced to a quarterfinal matchup against second-seeded Wright State — a game that will be played at 6 p.m. on March 2 at Wright State.
"They're really tough to prepare for. Forget about a good team; they're a great team," Baldwin said of the Raiders, who boast two-time Horizon League player of the year Loudon Love and put up 92 points in consecutive games to sweep the visiting Panthers Feb. 12-13.
"We'll have our hands full."
The Panthers were trailing by three against IUPUI when, beginning with a pair of Allen free throws, they ran off 22 of the final 28 points of the first half to open a 47-34 lead by intermission.
Allen scored six straight to start the spurt and then Gholston scored eight of the final 12 with a three-pointer from the right wing capping the scoring.
UWM allowed just one field goal over the final 8:06 and none over the final 6:14 while also forcing six turnovers — a muchimproved effort compared to how it had played on that end in losing five of six to close out the regular season.
While IUPUI shot a respectable 43.5% it got almost half its offense from Jaylen Minnett, who netted 15 points while big man Elyjah Goss added seven.
Marcus Burk, the third piece of the Jaguars' trio, had twice as many turnovers (six) as he did points (three) in 14 minutes.
"On the defensive end, we turned some turnovers into baskets, which was really key," Baldwin said. "We were already up a few points, but those turnovers that we converted really helped push the lead out.
"It was really good to see that, us playing harder on the defensive end and being a lot more efficient on the offensive game as well."
Starting with a layup just 11 seconds into the second half, Goss made his presence known the rest of the way.
Despite the taller Allen doing an admirable job defensively, the muscled-up Goss scored 11 points with some hard work in the lane while at the same time spearheading a more inspired Jaguars effort defensively.
As a result, IUPUI had whittled UWM's lead down to 59-52 on a Goss layup with 9:38 left.
Burk perked up at that point, scoring seven straight, but finally the Panthers' offense began answering back and before long they got into the bonus.
And that proved to be a boon.
The Panthers scored on six straight possessions, with three different players combining to go 10 for 10 from the freethrow line to keep the Jaguars at arm's length.
A three-pointer from Lucas with just under a minute to go iced it.
"We had older guys like Te'Jon running the point and Josh on the wing, and they did a great job of maintaining their composure and not panicking or anything like that," said Baldwin. "What we talked about leading up to the game was trying to put pressure on the paint and trying to get to the free-throw line."
Minnett finished with 23 points, Goss 20 points and 17 rebounds and Burk 12 points for IUPUI, which attempted three fewer free throws (21) than UWM made.
UWM won on the glass, 38-33, with the unheralded Allen grabbing 10 — including seven offensive — to post his second straight double-double.
He's done yeoman's work down low and taken advantage of the additional minutes afforded him with C.J. Wilbourn out with a foot injury.
"They call him 'Rampage' for a reason because he just throws himself in there and really gets after it," Baldwin said. "We wouldn't be where we are right now without him. He did a great job and got us out to a great start thanks to his offensive rebounding.
"That was huge for us, for him to play like that. Can't say enough about what he's been doing lately."