Titans Pick Up Road Win Over Pointers
Jack Flynn had a game-high 20 points and Adam Fravert recorded his seventh consecutive double-double to lead the UW-Oshkosh men's basketball team to a 66-59 victory at UW-Stevens Point on Wednesday (Feb. 12).
UW-Oshkosh (14-8, 8-3 WIAC) never trailed after a Flynn layup provided the Titans a 42-40 lead with 10:55 left in the game. Another Flynn layup extended the Titan advantage to 50-46 with 8:05 to go, and UW-Oshkosh led by at least four points the rest of the way.
UW-Stevens Point (14-8, 6-5 WIAC), which boasts the top scoring defense in the conference, owned the lead just once – for a total of 12 seconds early in the first half – against UW-Oshkosh's league-leading offense. The Pointers went into the night allowing 64.3 points per game while the Titans were averaging 83.4 per contest. UW-Oshkosh's 66 points Wednesday were its fewest in a winning effort since defeating St. Norbert College, 60-57, Nov. 21, 2017.
The defending NCAA Division III and WIAC champion Titans remain alone in second in the league standings with three games remaining. UW-Platteville (19-3, 9-2 WIAC), ranked eighth in the country by D3hoops.com, maintained its one-game lead over UW-Oshkosh while UW-Stevens Point (14-8, 6-5) fell into a tie for fourth in the conference.
UW-Oshkosh, which has won four of its last five meetings with UW-Stevens Point, also defeated the Pointers by a 105-95 score Jan. 22 in Oshkosh. The Titans have now swept the regular season series over the Pointers the past two seasons. UW-Oshkosh had not swept two conference regular season games from the Pointers in consecutive seasons since at least the 1974-75 and 1975-76 campaigns.
Flynn shot 9-for-12 from the field and collected eight rebounds, including five on the offensive end. Flynn went into the night leading the WIAC with 2.9 offensive boards per game.
Fravert added 12 points and a game-high 11 rebounds to go along with a team-leading four assists and two blocks for the Titans. Fravert, the WIAC leader at 8.7 rebounds and 1.5 blocks per game, now has a league-best 10 double-doubles this season and 24 in his career.
Eddie Muench and Levi Borchert registered 13 and 10 points, respectively, for UW-Oshkosh, which has had at least four double-digit scorers on 13 occasions this season. Borchert, who shot 4-for-6 from the floor, went into the game with a WIAC-best .684 field goal percentage.
UW-Oshkosh shot 23 of 52 (.442) from the field, 5-for-22 (.227) from 3-point range and 15 of 20 (.750) at the free throw line. The Titans owned advantages of 38-30 in rebounds and 3-1 in blocks. UW-Oshkosh, which has outrebounded 22 of its last 24 opponents, entered Wednesday ranked ninth nationally with a +9.4 average rebounding margin and also led the conference with 42.7 rebounds and 9.0 made 3-pointers per game, 70 blocks and a 1.16 assist-to-turnover ratio.
UW-Stevens Point shot 38.2 percent (21-55) from the floor, 26.3 percent (5-19) from beyond the 3-point arc and 85.7 percent (12-14) at the foul line. The Pointers, the WIAC leader with a +2.6 average turnover margin before Wednesday, held edges of 13-14 in turnovers and 6-5 in steals. Both teams had 11 assists.
Ethan Bublitz had a team-high 14 points for the Pointers, who also received 13 points from reserve Brandon Spray, and 12 points and a game-best five assists from Garrett Nelson.
Blake Ehrke had four points and led UW-Stevens Point with nine rebounds.
UW-Stevens Point claimed its only lead of the night at 4-3 less than four minutes into the game. UW-Oshkosh's Eric Peterson answered with a 3-pointer 12 seconds later, and the Titans never trailed again.
UW-Oshkosh scored 10 consecutive points to extend its lead to 22-10 with 8:28 left in the first half before Quinn Steckbauer made a pair of free throws for the Titans' largest lead of the night at 27-13 with 6:43 remaining in the opening period. UW-Stevens Point then went on a 17-7 run cut its deficit to 34-30 at intermission.
The Pointers later knotted the score at 34, 38 and again at 40 with 12:14 to play, but the Titans strung together seven points in a row as Flynn's layup was followed by a 3-pointer and two free throws from Fravert to up their lead to 47-40 with 9:52 to go.
Clinging to a 48-46 advantage with 8:17 left, UW-Oshkosh created separation with six straight points, including four by Flynn, for a 54-46 lead at the 5:55 mark. Borchert completed a three-point play to increase the Titans' advantage to 60-50 with 3:35 remaining, and the Pointers never got closer than six points the rest of the way.
UW-Oshkosh returns home to host UW-Stout on Saturday (Feb. 15) in Kolf Sports Center. The Titans defeated UW-Stout, 83-69, Jan. 11 in Oshkosh.