Titans Unable To Catch Eagles
Michael Blaszczyk had 20 points, seven rebounds and four assists to lift Benedictine University (Ill.), last year's NCAA Division III Men's Basketball Championship runner-up, to a 68-55 win over UW-Oshkosh in a clash of nationally ranked teams on Saturday (Nov. 26) in Lisle, Ill.
Blaszczyk made 8 of 9 shots from the floor, including 3 of 4 from 3-point range, while Tahron Harvey added 12 points, five rebounds, eight assists and four steals for Benedictine University.
Benedictine University (2-2), ranked sixth in the country by D3hoops.com, owned a 31-1 record last season after suffering an 82-76 loss to the University of St. Thomas (Minn.) in the national title game.
In their victory over the Titans, the Eagles held advantages in field goal percentage (.475 to .420), rebounds (33-26), assists (19-14), turnovers (11-9), steals (7-4) and bench points (24-4).
Ben Boots paced 21st-ranked UW-Oshkosh (2-2) with 20 points, three assists and two steals while Brett Wittchow contributed 15 points and a team-leading five rebounds. Boots connected on 8 of 15 shots from the field, including 4 of 10 from beyond the 3-point arc. Wittchow shot 5-for-8 from the floor, including 2-for-3 from 3-point range.
UW-Oshkosh opened the scoring with a 3-pointer by Sean Dwyer just 17 seconds into the contest and reclaimed an 8-5 advantage on another long-range basket from Dwyer, who ended the game with six points.
Benedictine responded with 13 unanswered points for an 18-8 lead it would not relinquish for the remainder of the game. Blaszczyk accounted for five points during the decisive 13-point skein as the Eagles took the lead for good at 10-8 on a 3-pointer by Shawn Soelter with 13:44 left in the first half.
The Titans cut their deficit to 26-21 on a 3-pointer by Boots at the 6:13 mark of the opening half. Benedictine University scored seven straight points to increase its lead to 33-21 on a layup from Harvey with 3:31 to go, but a layup from Wittchow with 58 seconds remaining in the opening session pulled UW-Oshkosh to within 33-26 at intermission.
The teams combined for just eight turnovers during the first half, including just three by the Eagles.
Boots drilled a 3-pointer on the Titans' first possession of the second half as UW-Oshkosh made four of its first five field goal attempts after intermission. A layup by Wittchow trimmed the Benedictine University lead to 38-36 with 16 minutes to play.
A layup by Taylor Jansen whittled the Eagle advantage to 43-41 at the 13:37 mark, but Blaszcyk scored five points in the span of 23 seconds to increase the Benedictine University lead to 48-41.
UW-Oshkosh was held scoreless for more than two minutes until Wittchow split a pair of free throws to make the score 50-42 with 11:28 left. The Titans closed to within 52-47 on a 3-pointer by Boots with less than nine minutes to go, but Eagles Zach Gorney, Brayden Olson and Blaszczyk each hit 3-pointers on consecutive possessions to extend their team's lead to 61-47 with six minutes remaining.
Olson went on to give the Eagles their largest lead of 15 points at 68-53 with 63 seconds to play.
Both teams shot 50 percent from the free throw line as Benedictine connected on just 2 of 4 attempts at the line and UW-Oshkosh 4 of 8.
Gorney and Olson produced 10 and nine points, respectively, off the bench for Benedictine University while Adam Reynolds chipped in four points and seven rebounds.
UW-Oshkosh's Max Schebel concluded the contest with seven points and three rebounds.
The Titans travel to Rock Island, Ill., to play 18th-ranked Augustana College on Wednesday (Nov. 30).