Titans Continue Dominaton Of Eagles

Charlie Noone had 18 points and five assists to lead the nationally ranked UW-Oshkosh men's basketball team to a 74-63 victory over Edgewood College on Tuesday (Nov. 22) in Madison.

UW-Oshkosh (2-1), ranked 21st in the NCAA Division III by D3hoops.com, scored the first eight points of the second half and owned a lead of at least seven points for the final 17:22 of the contest.

Titans Brett Wittchow and Max Schebel added 15 and 12 points, respectively, as UW-Oshkosh defeated the Eagles for the 24th time in 28 meetings in the series.

UW-Oshkosh made 27 of 36 attempts (75 percent) from the free throw line while Edgewood College converted just 7 of 13 tries (53.8 percent) at the foul line.

Edgewood College (0-2) held slim advantages in field goal percentage (.397 to .396), 3-point percentage (.273 to .227) and rebounds (39-37) while UW-Oshkosh also owned edges in assists (13-11), turnovers (16-13), blocks (4-0) and steals (4-3).

Noone knocked down 4 of 7 shots from the field and 8 of 9 attempts from the foul line to match his season-high point total.

Wittchow and Schebel also established season highs in points. Wittchow had five rebounds and four assists while Schebel recorded down six boards and two steals.

Jack Flynn chipped in eight points and a game-high eight rebounds for the Titans, who also received eight points and four rebounds from Taylor Jansen, and six points from Ben Boots.

UW-Oshkosh got a 3-pointer from Wittchow on the game's opening possession and extended its lead to 5-0 on a pair of free throws from AJ Mueller, but Edgewood College rallied to tie the score at 10 on 3-pointer by Tyler Lemke with 14:11 left in the first half.

The Eagles took their first lead of the game at 13-12 on a 3-pointer by Adam Freitag before increasing their advantage to 23-16 on a layup by Sy Staver with just over seven minutes to play in the opening period.

Trailing 27-20, UW-Oshkosh tallied seven unanswered points to even the score at 27, and a 3-pointer from Wittchow gave the Titans the lead for good at 30-29 at the 1:52 mark of the first half.

The Titans' 7-0 scoring run featured a basket by Schebel, a 3-pointer by Noone and a pair of free throws by Wittchow as the Eagles missed five straight shots from the floor and committed two turnovers during a span of nearly five minutes.

A dunk by Flynn pushed the Titan lead to 32-29 with 90 seconds to play in the opening stanza. A basket in the paint by Noone gave UW-Oshkosh a 34-29 advantage with 30 seconds to go, but Edgewood College's Arik Anderson drilled a 3-pointer to cut the Eagle deficit to 34-32 at intermission.

The Titans' 8-0 scoring run to open the second half began with a layup from Schebel and ended with 3-pointers from both Boots and Noone.

Boots pulled down a defense rebound and drove all the way for a layup that gave UW-Oshkosh a 46-33 cushion with 14:24 remaining, but Edgewood College scored seven of the next nine points to pull within 48-41 at the 11:52 mark.

Noone converted all three free throws after being fouled on a 3-point attempt, providing the Titans a 52-41 lead with 11 minutes to go.

Holding a 65-57 lead with just over four minutes left, UW-Oshkosh put the contest away with eight consecutive points. Wittchow had five points during the game-sealing scoring run while Schebel added three. A pair of free throws by Wittchow gave the Titans their largest lead of 16 points at 73-57 with 86 seconds remaining.

Edgewood College's Staver led all players with 19 points and six assists. He made 7 of 10 shots from the field and 5 of 6 attempts from the free throw line.

Adam Freitag and McClain Steffens both added nine points for the Eagles, who also received eight points apiece from Anderson and Lemke. Lemke grabbed a game-high 11 rebounds while Emil Radisevic chipped in seven points and eight boards.

UW-Oshkosh plays at sixth-ranked Benedictine University (Ill.) on Saturday (Nov. 26).