Titans Set School Record With 13th Straight Win
Jack Flynn led all players with 18 points and a career-best 15 rebounds, Connor Duax added a career-high 16 points, and the nationally ranked UW-Oshkosh men's basketball team set a program record for consecutive wins following its 91-56 rout over UW-River Falls on Saturday (Jan. 12) in Kolf Sports Center.
UW-Oshkosh (14-1, 4-0 WIAC), ranked fifth in the NCAA Division III by D3hoops.com, broke the game open with a 21-2 scoring run for a 30-9 lead with 9:32 left in the first half. The Titans went on to maintain a double-digit advantage for the final 32 minutes, including a cushion of at least 24 points for the entire second period.
With its 13th straight victory, UW-Oshkosh established a new school record for consecutive wins. The Titans also own a 4-0 conference record for the first time since 2007-08 while their 14 wins in 15 games is the program's best start since going 16-1 to open the 1995-96 campaign.
UW-River Falls (7-8, 0-4 WIAC), which was held to its lowest point total of the season, suffered its most lopsided loss in the 157 games since an 80-44 setback to UW-Stevens Point on Jan. 19, 2013. The 35-point margin is the largest by either team in the series between the Falcons and the Titans since a 106-59 win by UW-Oshkosh during the 1965-66 season.
Flynn, who has scored in double figures each game this season and 46 times during his career, shot 8-for-14 from the field and collected nine offensive rebounds on the way to notching his 12th career double-double. He made each of his six field goal attempts and scored 14 of his 18 points during the second half.
Duax eclipsed his previous career high of 15 points by shooting 7 of 12 from the floor while grabbing six rebounds.
All five UW-Oshkosh starters scored in double digits for the fourth time this season as Brett Wittchow contributed 14 points, Adam Fravert 13 and Ben Boots 10. Boots dished out a game-high five assists while Wittchow pulled down six rebounds and Fravert compiled five boards and four assists.
David Vlotho and Eric Peterson chipped in seven and six points, respectively, off the UW-Oshkosh bench.
UW-Oshkosh, winner of 11 straight home games, finished the game shooting 47.4 percent (36-76) from the floor, 39.3 percent (11-28) from 3-point range and 61.5 percent (8-13) at the free throw line. The Titans owned considerable advantages in rebounds (51-30), assists (17-11), turnovers (7-14) and steals (8-1). UW-Oshkosh matched its season high with 21 offensive rebounds and knocked down at least 11 3-pointers for the seventh time in the last 10 contests.
The Titans, who out-rebounded their 17th consecutive opponent, went into Saturday fourth in the country with a +11.3 average rebounding margin and ninth with a +19.4 average scoring margin. UW-Oshkosh was also leading the WIAC in scoring (86.0), made 3-pointers (148), assist-to-turnover ratio (1.54), and per-game assists (17.3) and blocks (4.1).
UW-River Falls shot 38.6 percent (22-57) from the floor, 17.6 percent (3-17) from beyond the 3-point arc and 56.3 percent (9-16) at the foul line. The Falcons entered Saturday averaging a WIAC-leading 42.2 rebounds per game. The Titans' 51 rebounds are the most by a UW-River Falls opponent in the 323 games since NCAA Division II member Concordia University-St. Paul (Minn.) had 52 against the Falcons on Dec. 16, 2006.
Austin Heidecker paced UW-River Falls with 13 points on 5-for-7 shooting from the field and 11 rebounds. He went into the contest leading the WIAC with 11.4 rebounds per game.
Julian Jackson scored nine of his 10 points during the first half for the Falcons, whose starters combined to score just 31 points and shot 1-for-10 from 3-point range.
UW-Oshkosh reclaimed the lead for good at 4-2 on a layup by Wittchow with 17:30 left in the first half. Clinging to a 9-7 advantage with 15:44 remaining in the opening period, the Titans produced a 21-2 scoring run over the next seven minutes that featured six different Titan scorers and each of Vlotho's seven points.
UW-River Falls' lone points during the Titans' 21-2 surge came on two Heidecker free throws as the Falcons missed eight straight field goal attempts and committed five turnovers before Jack Stensgard broke the drought with a jumper that trimmed his team's deficit to 30-11 at the 8:59 mark.
UW-Oshkosh scored the last seven points of the first half to take a 48-25 lead at intermission. The Titans then extended their run to 11 unanswered points as back-to-back layups by Wittchow and Boots increased UW-Oshkosh's advantage to 52-25 less than a minute into the second half.
The Titans, who picked up their third straight win over the Falcons, built their largest lead of 38 points at 88-50 following a layup from JT Petrie with 3:02 left.
UW-Oshkosh plays at 14th-ranked UW-Whitewater on Wednesday (Jan. 16).
Photo by Steve Frommell, D3Photography.com