Titans Seize Win From Warhawks In Final Minute
Adam Fravert had 18 points and six rebounds while Ben Boots added 17 points, four assists and four steals as UW-Oshkosh pulled out a 69-67 victory at UW-Whitewater in a matchup of nationally ranked men's basketball teams on Wednesday (Feb. 7).
UW-Oshkosh (17-5, 7-4 WIAC) reclaimed a 68-67 advantage on a three-point play by Boots with 41 seconds remaining. Boots recorded a steal on the ensuing UW-Whitewater possession but missed a bonus free throw with 19 seconds left. Jack Flynn, who collected the offensive rebound off of Boots' foul shot, then missed both of his foul shots.
UW-Whitewater (16-6, 6-5 WIAC) called a pair of timeouts after securing Flynn's miss, but its potential go-ahead jumper from the right wing by Maurquis Turner was off the mark with less than five seconds to play.
Boots snared the resulting rebound and split a pair of free throws to provide the final score as Titans downed the Warhawks for the third time in four meetings.
UW-Oshkosh, ranked 21st in the NCAA Division III by D3hoops.com, is alone in third place in the WIAC with three contests remaining. Ninth-ranked UW-Platteville (19-3, 9-2 WIAC) and 18th-ranked UW-Stevens Point (15-7, 9-2) are tied atop the league standings while 19th-ranked UW-Whitewater fell to fourth in the conference.
Fravert shot 7-for-10 from the field and recorded the team's lone block on the way to leading the Titans in scoring for the eighth time and in rebounds for the 12th time this season. Fravert entered the game with a WIAC-best 7.6 rebounds per game and 28 blocks.
Boots scored 14 of his 17 points and tallied each of his four steals during the second half. The junior guard finished the game two points shy of 1,000 in his career.
Flynn chipped in 10 points and six rebounds for the Titans, who also received eight points off the bench from Connor Duax, and seven points and a game-high five assists from starter Brett Wittchow. Flynn, who shot 5-for-6 from the field and had three offensive rebounds, entered the game with a WIAC-leading .621 field goal percentage and 3.7 offensive boards per contest.
UW-Whitewater held narrow advantages in turnovers (13-12), and field goal (.519 to .510) and 3-point (.429 to .360) percentages while UW-Oshkosh had edges in rebounds (29-26), assists (15-10), blocks (1-0) and free throw percentage (.588 to .583). Both teams recorded eight steals during the contest that featured nine ties and nine lead changes.
UW-Oshkosh went into the contest fifth nationally with a +10.3 average rebounding margin. The Titans, who shot 10-for-17 at the foul line on Wednesday, was also leading the WIAC in rebounds (40.1) and assists (14.2) per game, free throws attempted (451) and free throws made (323).
The Warhawks, who entered the game with a league-high 193 made 3-pointers, was held to 6-for-14 shooting from beyond the arc on Wednesday.
UW-Whitewater's Andre Brown led all players with a career-high 28 points on 12 of 20 shooting from the floor while pacing the team with six rebounds and three assists.
David Sachs added 18 points for the Warhawks on 7-for-8 shooting from the field.
UW-Whitewater raced out to a 9-4 lead following a steal and a layup from Sachs. UW-Oshkosh scored seven unanswered points to retake a 13-11 advantage on a 3-pointer by Sam Ebersold.
A layup by Brown gave the Warhawks their largest lead of the first half at 25-18, but Wittchow capped UW-Oshkosh's 13-1 scoring run that gave the Titans a 31-26 advantage with 2:19 left in the opening period. A jumper from Flynn provided UW-Oshkosh a 33-32 lead at intermission.
UW-Whitewater built a 50-43 lead midway through the second half as Turner made all three free throws after being fouled behind the 3-point line.
UW-Oshkosh was held scoreless for nearly four minutes until Fravert drove for a layup to cut the Titans' deficit to 50-45 with 9:22 to go. Boots accounted for each of the Titans' next seven points as UW-Oshkosh pulled within 53-52 at the 7:41 mark. Flynn followed with a basket in the paint for a 54-53 UW-Oshkosh lead with seven minutes to play.
Trailing 62-59, UW-Oshkosh got a 3-pointer from Boots to tie the score with two minutes remaining. Sachs knocked down a jumper for a 64-62 UW-Whitewater lead, but Fravert answered with a 3-pointer that gave the Titans a 65-64 advantage with 83 seconds remaining.
Sachs then completed a three-point play for a 67-65 UW-Whitewater lead with 60 seconds to go before Boots responded with a three-point play of his own 19 seconds later.
UW-Whitewater won this season's first meeting with the Titans by an 83-57 score on Jan. 3 in Oshkosh.
UW-Oshkosh hosts UW-La Crosse on Saturday (Feb. 10) in Kolf Sports Center.