Milwaukee, WI – Sunday afternoon’s Horizon League matchup between No. 2 Milwaukee (15-8, 8-4 Horizon League) and No. 3 Purdue Fort Wayne (16-8, 9-4 Horizon League) was slated to be an evenly matched, back and forth contest that a coin toss would have just as good of odds determining the winner of this game. And it was exactly that.
This game had nearly everything die hard and casual basketball fans alike could wish for in a game. This barn burner had ten lead changes, nine instances of a tie score, defensive spectacles, a four-point play, a technical for taunting, missed clutch free throws, and a half court heave at the buzzer that could have won the game.
First Half: The first minute of the game was exactly the opposite of what Purdue Fort Wayne wanted to see. The 345th place team in the country and 10th in the Horizon League in team rebounds per game (Green Bay sits last in the HL and 351 out of 355) showed its weakness early. Milwaukee was able to secure 4 offensive rebounds in the first minute of the game. Milwaukee was quickly showing the Mastodons that would have to earn every single possession and make them count. That Mastodons did that – eventually.
Eric Mulder (6-9, Forward, Jr.) got the scoring started for the Mastodons off an assist from Jalen Jackson (6-2, Guard, Jr.) who was being double teamed near the half court line by some early Panther pressure. From this point, the two teams traded blows back and forth with Milwaukee landing a few more jabs and hooks than the Mastodons.
The Panthers held a 7-point lead (17-10) as the teams headed back to their benches for the under 12 minute media timeout. The Panthers would do a decent job of playing keep away with the lead until Rasheed Bello (6-0, Guard, Sr.) would nail a right wing three over the Milwaukee 2-3 zone to take the first lead of the night for the Mastodons 22-21 with 7 minutes left in the first half. Back to trading blows – the lead changed hands 6 times in the last 7 minutes of the half. Milwaukee owning the last lead change, taking a 36-33 lead into the half.
Second Half: Whatever Coach Jon Coffman said to his squad at halftime clearly worked. The Mastodons came out of the half laying haymakers that stunned and made the Panthers wobble. The Fort Wayne native, Jalen Jackson, started by scoring back-to-back layups to retake the lead. Then a big punch came from University of Loyola Chicago transfer Trey Lewis (6-6, Guard, So.) by the way of a wing three that found the bottom of the net, but Milwaukee’s Jamichael Stillwell ended up in Lewis’s landing zone prompting the whistle and leading to the good ol’ 4-point play.
The Mastodon’s 8-0 run to start the second half was responded by a Milwaukee 7-0 run to once again retake the lead. The teams continued to trade baskets and runs, until the Mastodons took the lead at the 12 minute mark on a Jalen Jackson layup to tie and followed up almost immediately by another Trey Lewis 3-point basket. A huge self inflicted wound for the Panthers came when Theums Fulks missed a 3-point shot but was rebounded by Erik Pratt under the basket who put it up back very strong through a blockade of Mastodon arms and made the shot.
Pratt, wanting to make it known that he knows where the weight room is on the University of Milwaukee, decided to yell and flex – right in the direction of PFW’s Quinton Morton-Robertson. Pratt was issued a technical foul for taunting, and Bello put two nothing-but-net free throws down to put the Mastodon’s ahead for good. These two free throws would prove to be the difference in the game.
The Mastodons held a two possession or more lead for the next 7 minutes. But Milwaukee would paw and claw their way back into the game like they have in many games this season. A sequence of two Themus Fulks free throws, a Fulks steal, and a Fulks layup tied the game at 70-70 and forced Jon Coffman to use a timeout to regroup his team to finish out the game. Once again, whatever Coffman said or drew on his whiteboard worked again. Bello came out of the timeout and drilled another three-pointer. A few minutes later, he lined up for another three-point shot that hit back iron and goes straight to the Panthers, and they start running.
The 6-8 forward Stillwell took off just inside the free throw line only to be met at the apex by the left hand of the smaller Bello, who palmed the entire ball sending Stillwell to the floor and the ball back to the Mastodons. Bello, who’s no stranger to some incredible defensive plays (flashback to his block against Southern Indiana last season with his shoe), gave the Mastodons the spark they needed to finish the game.
At this point, the Panthers needed to foul to have a chance. Mulder nailed two free throws in the one-and-one, Jackson hit the front end, but missed the back end. Jackson responded 8 game seconds later to hit both free throws to go up by 4. However, AJ McKee for Milwaukee wasn’t ready to lay down quite yet. A McKee three-point shot from the right wing made it a one-point game 80-79 in favor of the Mastodons with only 4 seconds left in the game.
The Mastodons, who were without a timeout, let the ball bounce to regroup and get the press break inbound play set up. Milwaukee played near-perfect defense forcing Rasheed Bello to inbound the ball at 4.5 seconds of his 5 seconds allotted to inbound the ball. The ball went up in the air, where Corey Hadnot II for the ‘Dons skied above everyone like a free safety ball hawking a Hail Mary to intercept the ball. A foul put Hadnot at the line where he made the first, but missed the second, giving Milwaukee two dribbles and two seconds to get the ball to half court where Fulks launches the ball to bounce off the top of the backboard as the buzzer sounds giving the Mastodons the 81-79 victory.
Leaders and Stats: The Mastodons were led in scoring by Bello (23 PTS, 8-15 FG, 5-10 3PT), Jackson (22 PTS, 8-14 FG, 5-7 FT), and Lewis (15 PTS, 5-11 FG, 4-8 3PT). Bello also led the team in rebounding with six. Milwaukee had 5 players in double figures in the scoring category – Fulks (15 PTS), Pratt (13 PTS), Fields (13 PTS), McKee (12 PTS), and Kentrell Pullian (11 PTS). The Mastodons shot 46.7% (28-60) from the floor, and the Panthers shot 0.3% better for 47% on the night (31-66). Purdue Fort Wayne bounced back from the abnormal three-point shooting against Cleveland State, shooting 13-31 (41.9%) from behind the arc. Not surprisingly, the Milwaukee Panthers won the rebounding battle 39-28.
What’s Next: Milwaukee travels down to IU Indy for a matchup with the Jaguars on Wednesday, February 5 at 6:30pm ET on ESPN+.
Purdue Fort Wayne returns home to face the Wright State Raiders for the second time this season at 7:00pm ET at the Allen County War Memorial Coliseum to start Mastodon Mania. The game will be broadcasted on ESPN+.