Panthers Win a Nailbiter to Clinch Horizon League Second Seed

The young Milwaukee Panthers (19-10) eked out a win against an experienced Purdue Fort Wayne (16-14) team Thursday night 96-94 to secure the Panthers at least the second seed in the Horizon League Tournament.

Picked ninth in the pre-season projections, The Panthers confounded expectations and head into the postseason as a target rather than a plucky underdog.

“We will be the villains,” Milwaukee coach Bart Lundy said.

BJ Freeman posted the fifth triple-double in school history. Kentrell Pullian lit up the scoreboard with 25 points. This win came after a couple of losses in a row.

“We just needed to find that rhythm again,” said coach Lundy.

Pullian found the rhythm by making 5-of-7 threes and going 8-11 from the field.

The pressure started early; Fort Wayne double-teamed Freeman from the start. Freeman was not afraid to get his teammates involved early, notching 11 assists.

“Watching the film with coach Jake (assistant coach) just opened a lot for me,” said Freeman.

The Panthers started slow giving up an 11-4 run right off the tip. Lundy explained that they were losing shooters due to the pace at which the Mastodons were playing.

“We were getting beat,” said Lundy. “The emphasis was just our first three strides.”

The Panthers countered with some intensity of their own by implementing a full-court trap halfway through the first half.

The trap and up-tempo pace allowed the Panthers to close the gap to six going into halftime.

“We just said, hey, let’s go have fun and let’s press them,” said Lundy.

That’s exactly what they did. Justin Thomas secured a steal and dunk to put the Panthers down one. Then after that, another Thomas steal gave the Panthers their first lead of the half.

Throughout the second half, it was an up-tempo, back-and-forth battle. Down the stretch, the Panthers started to pull away. Freeman started to take over. Freeman had a stretch where he scored eight points in a minute.

At one point the Panthers were ahead by nine with just over a minute left. Fort Wayne stayed strong and cut into the lead with a layup by Damian Chong Qui and Jared Godfrey nailed both of his free throws to bring the game to 93-91.

Pullian nearly iced the game with free throws at the other end, but Chong Qui hit a three with 1.4 seconds left. Elijah Jamison made only one free throw to put the Panthers up by two. Godfrey got a good look at the basket but missed a three-pointer to end the game.