Titans Oust Seventh-Ranked Green Knights
Taylor Jansen scored a career-high 17 points to lead the UW-Oshkosh men's basketball team to a 58-45 upset victory over highly ranked St. Norbert College on Tuesday (Dec. 20) in Kolf Sports Center.
UW-Oshkosh (6-3), which snapped an eight-game losing streak to the Green Knights, tallied 17 unanswered points for a 34-16 advantage late in the first half and held a double-digit lead for the final 27:25 of the contest.
St. Norbert College (5-2), ranked seventh in the NCAA Division III by D3hoops.com, suffered its largest defeat to the Titans since a 65-51 decision during the 2004-05 campaign.
Both UW-Oshkosh and St. Norbert College appeared in the national tournament a year ago. The Titans, making their first NCAA postseason appearance in 13 seasons, were ousted in the first round while the Green Knights advanced to the third round for the first time since 1984.
The Green Knights entered Tuesday's contest leading the country with 55 points allowed per game, but the Titans owned a 42-20 advantage at intermission and led by as many as 24 points on two occasions during the second half. St. Norbert College was limited to its lowest first-half point total in the 95 games since tallying 17 points against UW-Whitewater on Feb. 2, 2013.
UW-Oshkosh, which owns a 48-37 advantage in the series with St. Norbert College, defeated the Green Knights for the first time since securing a 78-68 win on Nov. 21, 2007.
Jansen shot 5-for-8 from the floor and made all six of his attempts from the free throw line while adding three assists and one steal in 27 minutes off the bench.
UW-Oshkosh starters Ben Boots and Charlie Noone added 12 and 10 points, respectively, as the Titans held advantages in field goal percentage (.353 to .265), rebounds (43-28) and assists (9-5).
UW-Oshkosh also knocked down 16 of 17 free throws as the Titans have converted 35 of their past 36 attempts from the foul line during their past two games.
Brett Wittchow chipped in eight points, three rebounds and two steals for the Titans, who also received two points and a season-best 12 rebounds from Max Schebel.
The Green Knights were held to 22.2 percent (6-27) shooting from the field during the first half. St. Norbert College made just one field goal over the final 10 minutes of the first period.
St. Norbert College's DJ DeValk opened the scoring with a 3-pointer more than two minutes into the game, and his long-range jumped provided the Green Knights with their largest lead of the contest at 11-7 at the 12:31 mark of the first half.
A layup by Wittchow gave UW-Oshkosh the lead for good at 14-13 with 11 minutes remaining in the first half.
Clinging to a 17-16 lead, the Titans put the game away by scoring 17 unanswered points during a span of six minutes. A 3-pointer by Noone sparked the decisive skein that featured eight points from Jansen and five from Noone.
St. Norbert College's scoreless drought lasted nearly eight minutes (7:44) until a pair of free throws by DeValk trimmed the Green Knights' deficit to 34-18 with 2:30 left in the opening half. St. Norbert College missed seven consecutive shots from the floor and committed four turnovers during UW-Oshkosh's 17-0 scoring run. The Green Knights, who went on to commit just 11 turnovers against the Titans, went into the game ranked ninth nationally with 10.2 turnovers per game.
UW-Oshkosh opened its first 20-point lead when Boots drained three free throws for a 42-20 advantage with less than one second remaining before halftime.
A pair of free throws by Jansen gave the Titans their largest lead of 24 points at 47-23 with 14:16 left, and a jumper by Jansen provided the team with a 56-32 advantage with 7:17 to go.
St. Norbert College scored 13 of the game's last 16 points over the final seven minutes to provide the final score.
The Green Knights' DeValk led all players with 21 points, but no other St. Norbert College player scored more than four. Terrance Garner and Brian Luteyn paced St. Norbert College with six rebounds apiece.
UW-Oshkosh is off until it travels to Coe College (Iowa) on Dec. 29.