Titans Hold Off Lions To Win Home Opener

Behind the hot hand of Dylan Wurtz, UW-Oshkosh shot 63 percent in the second half to defeat Finlandia University (Mich.), 78-74, in a first round game of the Hilton Garden Inn Men's Basketball Classic held Saturday (Nov. 23) in Kolf Sports Center.

UW-Oshkosh (1-1) advances to play Clarke University (Iowa) (5-1) in the championship game at 5 p.m. on Sunday (Nov. 24) in Kolf Sports Center. The Crusaders qualified for the title contest with Saturday's 100-94 triumph over Buena Vista University (Iowa). Finlandia University (1-5) and Buena Vista University (0-3) will play for the consolation championship at 3 p.m. on Sunday.

After going scoreless in the first half, Wurtz made all eight of his second-half shots, including six three-pointers, to finish with a game-high 22 points. The Titans also received 14 points from Jade Royston, 13 from AJ Mueller and 10 from Max Schebel.

Wurtz came out firing in the second half. He converted a three-point shot on the Titans' first possession and followed it up by slashing to basket for a lay-up. Wurtz made two more triples over the next two minutes to give UW-Oshkosh a 42-31 lead with 16:21 to play.

UW-Oshkosh went on to score 19 of the next 29 points, as Wurtz made a lay-up to give the Titans a 61-41 advantage with 7:58 remaining. The lead was UW-Oshkosh's largest of the game.

Finlandia University, which has lost all 11 of its meeting with UW-Oshkosh, responded with 13 unanswered points to cut its deficit to 61-54 with 5:54 left. Keith Arnold was involved in all of the Lions' scoring, as he totaled seven points and a pair of assists.

Finlandia University continued to chip away, eventually cutting UW-Oshkosh's lead to 72-70 with 1:42 remaining. The Lions tallied nine straight points before another long shot from Wurtz gave the Titans a 75-70 advantage with 1:27 left. The teams went on to exchange points the rest of the way.

First-half action featured six ties and margin of no more than four points. UW-Oshkosh jumped out to a 10-6 lead before Finlandia University bounced back to take a 24-22 advantage with 4:19 left. The Titans scored their next five points from the free throw line to take a 29-26 lead to intermission.

UW-Oshkosh shot an even 50 percent (27-54) from the field. The Titans made 17 of their 27 second-half attempts, including 7-of-12 behind the three-point arc. UW-Oshkosh finished the game shooting 40 percent (8-20) from three-point land and 76 percent (16-21) from the foul line.

Finlandia University posted shooting marks of 52 percent (29-56) from the field, 38 (9-24) behind the three-point line and 47 (7-15) from the free throw stripe.

Dominic Morrow led the Lions with 19 points and a game-high eight rebounds. Finlandia University also received 16 points and 10 assists from Arnold and 12 points each from Brandon Robinson and Matt Strong.

UW-Oshkosh, which committed just eight turnovers, won the rebounding battle in its home opener, 33-26.