Christmas spirit: UWM pulls together when it matters, beats Tennessee-Chattanooga in OT

UW-Milwaukee's men's basketball team is heading into the holiday break on a high note.

On the heels of Markeith Browning II's dismissal from the team, the Panthers on Friday afternoon put together what coach Bart Lundy referred to as their best start-to-finish effort of the season.

It took an overtime to decide, but in the end UWM came away with a hard-fought 85-83 victory over Tennessee-Chattanooga at UW-Milwaukee Panther Arena. It was the team's final non-conference tuneup, with Horizon League play resuming against Robert Morris in a week.

"I love to get the win. But I love the spirit that we played with," Lundy said. "We played together, we played hard. This game could have gone either way. If we're going to have Milwaukee basketball, that's what it's going to be about. It's not always going to be pretty. It's not always going to be right.

"But they're going to play together and they're going to play hard, win or lose. This is the first game I'm coming out of this year where I feel good in my basketball soul about our effort and our energy and how we represented the university.

"It was a Christmas present to us all."

There were heroes aplenty for the Panthers (5-7), beginning with Erik Pratt and Kentrell Pullian.

The guard duo both put up career performances – Pratt, the transfer from Texas A&M with 29 points (including a 6-for-13 effort from three-point range) and nine rebounds while playing all but 35 seconds of the game, and Pullian, the junior returnee who added 26 points (including four clutch free throws in the final 16 seconds) and eight rebounds in 33 minutes.

Then there was sophomore Elijah Jamison, who still managed to make a positive impact despite a 3-for-13 effort from the floor with 11 points, six rebounds and eight assists in 39 minutes, and junior Darius Duffy, who banged around inside for a career-high 10 rebounds and four blocked shots over 33 minutes.

It was the first overtime affair of the season for the Panthers, who might well have won it in regulation were it not for a stroke of bad luck.

After the Mocs (8-4) tied it at 72 on a Tyler Millin three from the top of the key, UWM got the ball into the hands of Pratt and he responded with a long three of his own from the right wing with 3.7 seconds remaining.

But at the same time Pratt was getting his shot off, Lundy was calling timeout from the sideline – a wish that was granted and earned a big groan from all in attendance.

"I'd like it on the record that the only person that can guard Erik Pratt at the end of the game is Coach Lundy," Lundy joked. "I think I can count on one hand the number of times I've called timeout at the end of games like that. We were in the double bonus and it looked like we didn't have much and we weren't organized.

"This group is learning to play together and a lot of those late-game situations we don't have all the way in check yet. But I shouldn't have called it. My bad."

Added Pratt: "Yeah. We would have been in the locker room a lot earlier."

It was Pratt who got the call again out of the huddle and he had a good look with time winding down, but his runner rimmed out.

The game went back and forth the rest of the way.

UWM kept the door ajar by hitting just 2 of 7 free throws in the opening 3 minutes of the extra session. Tennessee-Chattanooga took its first lead at 77-76 on a three with 1 minute 30 seconds remaining, then Pratt sandwiched two free throws and a three around a pair of free throws by the Mocs.

Pratt's three was immediately answered on the other end by another from Millin. Pullian was fouled and hit a pair, then Millin worked himself wide open for as easy a look from beyond the arc as he'll probably ever see, but missed it badly.

UWM rebounded and Pullian hit two more free throws with 3.4 left on the clock.

And that, as the Mocs' previous game proved, was more than plenty of time as their leading scorer, Trey Bonham, hit a running half-court shot at the buzzer to down Gardner-Webb on Tuesday.

Coming out of the timeout, the Panthers blanketed Bonham and it was his bookend, Honor Huff, who caught the inbounds pass and was immediately fouled by Pullian. Huff made the first and missed the second, and after a dead-ball situation UWM was able to get the ball in with .3 seconds remaining to end it.

"(Bonham) came left, but we were going to foul," Lundy said. "We just couldn't come unattached from any of those guards. (Pullian) made a good effort stride for for stride at the ball, clean foul."

The Panthers won despite shooting 35.8% – their third-worst performance of the season – but managed to offset that by tying a season high with 11 threes and setting new highs with 26 makes and 37 attempts at the free-throw line.

Lundy also divulged after the game that leading scorer BJ Freeman experienced a setback with his back injury and will be shut down for another 10 to 14 days. He hasn't played since Nov. 25.

Also, rotation player Zach Howell will need shoulder surgery and miss the remainder of the season but will be able to qualify for another season as eligibility as a medical redshirt.

"I just want to give credit to our guys," Lundy said. "We've had a lot of turmoil and a rough start to the season and we had the best week that we've had since this group got here in the summer. There aren't any secrets in this -- you play together, you play hard and you sacrifice, and good things will happen."

Pratt said the Panthers' stock is rising just when it matters most -- with conference play now on tap.

"I definitely feel like we're going up," he said. "But it's good just to stay level-headed. Don't get too high; don't get too low. Because basketball is a lot of ups and downs. So, you've really got to fight through it. Just stay poised and keep going.

"Just keep going."

This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: UWM pulls together when it matters, beats Tennessee-Chattanooga in OT