DETROIT, Mich.-- Junior
Jason Calliste hit a pair of free throws with 10 seconds remaining to cap a wild comeback and give host Detroit (14-12, 8-6 HL) a thrilling 58-57 win over Milwaukee at Calihan Hall Friday night. Detroit trailed by seven with under two minutes to play but forced a turnover-- its 25th of the night-- to eventually regain control and escape with the win to move into a four-way tie for third place in the Horizon League standings.
The comeback started with under two minutes to play. With the score 53-46 Milwaukee,
Eli Holman poked a ball loose at midcourt and
Ray McCallum converted on the other end to trim the margin to five. Pressure defense caused a UWM turnover and Holman eventually got a putback to go on his second attempt for a 53-50 game.
Milwaukee (15-11, 8-6) tried to inbound under its own basket, but it went off Paris Gulley's fingertips for a turnover. Gulley then fouled Calliste on the ensuing Detroit possession and the junior calmly hit the first to tie the game and gave Detroit its first lead of the second half with a second swish.
Kaylon Williams took the ball to inside the three-point arc and got off a shot, but Holman was there to corral it. When a jump ball was awarded to Detroit, 1.5 seconds remained and the Titans had the ball underneath the Panther bucket.
Chase Simon threw a baseball pass high in the air that Holman again snared out of the air as the final horn sounded giving the Titans their seventh win in their last nine games.
It was a win that came despite the Titans never really finding a rhythm offensively. In fact, Detroit didn't even crack the scoreboard until the 16:17 mark and it was a turnover-filled 2-2 game at the first media break. UWM scored eight straight during one stretch then the Titans countered with a 12-2 run of their own to regain the lead briefly but the Panthers held the five-point lead at intermission.
The halftime stats confirmed an opening 20 minutes that neither team will want to remember. The teams combined for 28 turnovers and Milwaukee was the beneficiary of Detroit's 36 percent shooting to take a 27-22 lead at the break.
The second half started just as the first one did with neither team scoring until more than three minutes had melted off the clock. Tony Meier's three kickstarted the scoring as UWM built its largest lead to 11 with seven minutes gone.
Although the Detroit offense still struggled to get into gear, UDM kept the game in range with defense holding the Panthers without a field goal for the next 5:55. James Haarsma picked up a foul and a technical foul with a nine-point Milwaukee lead. McCallum split a pair and Calliste hit just the front end of his two freebies as well, making it a seven-point Panther advantage.
Tony Meier hit a triple for UWM to push the margin back to ten with 7:15 to go. Gulley hit a jumper with 2:54 left and Milwaukee enjoyed a seeming comfortable 53-43 lead. From there, Detroit outscored UWM 15-4 in the final minutes to complete the wild comeback.
McCallum led all scorers with 18 points while Holman added eight points and 11 rebounds for the Titans. Calliste had a career-high-tying five steals to go along with 12 points.
Doug Anderson had 12 points and five rebounds for Detroit.
Meier led the Panthers (15-11, 8-6) with 17 points.
The Titans host Green Bay Sunday afternoon for a 1:00 p.m. tip. The game will be broadcast on FOX Sports Detroit HD and the Horizon League Network.
