Titans Begin WIAC Tournament With High-Scoring Victory
Hunter Plamann had a season-high 27 points, Levi Borchert added a career-best 21 and the nationally ranked UW-Oshkosh men's basketball team defeated UW-Stout, 98-89, during the first round of the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Championship on Monday (March 1) in Kolf Sports Center.
The Titans created separation with a 27-9 scoring run that turned a 31-30 edge with under seven minutes left in the first half into a 58-39 advantage at the 17:48 mark of the second period. UW-Oshkosh went 8-for-11 from the field and made seven free throws during the decisive run.
UW-Oshkosh (5-1), ranked ninth in the NCAA Division III by D3hoops.com, shot a season-high 60 percent from the field on the way scoring the third most points in WIAC tournament history and extending its winning streak to five games. The Titans, the defending league postseason champion and winners of the past eight meetings with UW-Stout (3-6), advances to play at UW-La Crosse on Wednesday (March 3) during the semifinal round of the WIAC Championship.
Fourteenth-ranked UW-La Crosse (7-2) is the WIAC West Division top seed while UW-Oshkosh is seeded second in the East Division. Wednesday's other WIAC Championship semifinal will feature West Division second seed UW-UW-River Falls (5-3) at East Division top seed and 11th-ranked UW-Platteville (6-2). The semifinal winners will play for the season-ending WIAC Championship title Friday (March 5).
Plamann scored 18 of his 27 points in the first half and finished the game shooting 9-for-12 from the field, including 2-for-3 from 3-point range, and 7-for-7 at the free throw line. Plamann, who has made each of his 24 free throws this season, dished out a team-leading six assists after entering Monday leading the conference at 4.2 assists per game.
Borchert went 9-for-13 from the floor to eclipse his previous career high of 20 points. Borchert, the WIAC leader with a .648 field goal percentage on the year, grabbed eight rebounds and contributed five assists, two steals and a pair of blocks.
UW-Oshkosh had four double-digit scorers Monday, including Will Mahoney with 17 points and Eddie Muench with 15. Eric Peterson registered nine points and a game-high 10 rebounds for the Titans, who last played Feb. 19 against UW-Stevens Point.
The Titans finished the contest shooting a season-best 60 percent (36-60) from the field, 33.3 percent (8-24) from beyond the 3-point arc and 72 percent (18-25) at the foul line. UW-Oshkosh, which owned edges of 16-15 in assists and 4-2 in blocks, went into the day pacing the conference in scoring (78.4), 3-point percentage (.451), 3-point percentage defense (.237), and per-game rebounds (37.6), assists (13.8) and made 3-pointers (11.0).
UW-Stout, seeded third in the WIAC West Division, shot 34 of 76 from the floor (44.7 percent), 13 of 29 (44.8 percent) from 3-point range and 8-for-11 (72.7 percent) at the free throw line. The Blue Devils, the league leader with a +4.2 average rebounding margin entering Monday, held advantages of 37-36 in rebounds, 12-13 in turnovers and 8-7 in steals.
Armani Tinsley led the Blue Devils with 23 points on 8-for-25 shooting from the field.
Lovell Williams had 19 points and a team-high six assists for UW-Stout, which also received 18 points and three steals from Jon Ciriacks, and six points and a team-leading eight rebounds from reserve Marcus Hill.
Neither team led by more than five points until UW-Oshkosh went on the 27-9 scoring run that spanned the two halves for a 58-39 lead with 17:48 remaining in the game. Plamann and Mahoney combined for 17 points during the scoring binge that began with a Peterson 3-pointer and ended with a Mahoney 3-pointer.
UW-Oshkosh, which owned a 50-37 lead at intermission, maintained a double-digit lead for a majority of the second half until Tinsley converted a pair of free throws to pull the Blue Devils within 93-84 with 69 seconds to play.
The Titans' 98 points Monday is the third highest scoring effort in WIAC Championship history, trailing only UW-La Crosse's 108 in 2000 and UW-Oshkosh's 103 in 2003. UW-Stout's 89 points are the most in a losing effort since the WIAC postseason began in 1999.
UW-Oshkosh and UW-La Crosse will be meeting for the first time this season Wednesday. The Titans won all three matchups between the teams last season, including a 76-68 overtime decision at home over UW-La Crosse in the WIAC Championship semifinals.
2021 WIAC Men's Basketball Championship Website
Postgame Interview (Ricky Nelson) With UW-Oshkosh Head Men's Basketball Coach Matt Lewis
Tommy McGlynn's UW-Oshkosh Senior Day Video
Photo by Steve Frommell, UW-Oshkosh Athletics • Senior Day Video by Ashlynn Schreiner, UW-Oshkosh Athletics