Titans Romp To Win Over Cardinals

Levi Borchert paced four UW-Oshkosh double digit scorers with a career high 25 points, Cole Booth matched a career best with 15 and the nationally ranked Titans romped to a 91-67 men's basketball victory over North Central College (Ill.) on Saturday (Dec. 11) in Kolf Sports Center.

UW-Oshkosh (9-1), ranked sixth in the NCAA Division III by D3hoops.com, led wire to wire after scoring the first seven points of the contest en route to handing North Central College its largest loss in the 142 games since a 76-49 setback at Augustana College (Ill.) on Jan. 13, 2016.

The Titans, who shot nearly 60 percent from the field, scored 18 seconds into the game on a Borchert layup before Hunter Plamann drained a 3-pointer and Eric Peterson scored in the paint for a 7-0 advantage with 18:26 remaining in the opening half. UW-Oshkosh went on to lead by as many as 12 points during the first half, including a 46-34 score at intermission.

North Central College (4-2), the reigning regular season champion in the College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin, pulled within 31-30 at the 5:22 mark of the first period, but UW-Oshkosh held the Cardinals, one of the top shooting teams in the nation, to just two field goals for the remainder of the half and closed out the period on a 15-4 run that featured five points from Booth and three apiece by Borchert and Peterson.

In the first matchup between the teams since homestanding North Central College ousted UW-Oshkosh from the second round of the 2020 Division III Championship by an 84-82 overtime score, the Titans owned a double figure cushion for the final 14:24 of the game following a Borchert layup that extended their advantage to 52-42. UW-Oshkosh held its largest lead of 25 points (88-63) after an Eddie Muench 3-pointer with 2:34 to play.

Borchert, a 2021 D3hoops.com Third Team All-American, shot 11 of 14 from the field, collected seven rebounds and dished out three assists on the way to surpassing his previous career high of 23 points established during an 81-66 victory over CCIW member Carthage College on Nov. 20.

UW-Oshkosh's Booth went 6-for-8 from the floor, including 3-for-5 from 3-point range, in 21 minutes off the bench to tie a career high set in a 96-62 win at Concordia University Wisconsin on Nov. 8.

Plamann and Peterson added 14 and 13 points, respectively, for a UW-Oshkosh team that extended its home winning streak to 11 games. Plamann matched his career high with seven assists while Peterson contributed six rebounds and six assists.

UW-Oshkosh had nine scorers Saturday, including Muench with eight points, Jonah Rindfleisch with six and JT Petrie with five. Rindfleisch, who shot 3-for-3 from the field, tied for the team high with seven rebounds in 15 minutes of action.

The Titans shot a robust 59.3% (35-59) from the floor, 46.2% (12-26) from beyond the 3-point arc and 81.8% (9-11) at the free throw line. UW-Oshkosh owned advantages of 32-23 in rebounds, 23-15 in assists, 6-7 in turnovers, 2-1 in blocks and 2-1 in steals. The Titans, who shot better than 50% from the field for the fourth time this season, went into the night ranked fourth in the country with 9.6 turnovers per game.

UW-Oshkosh set or tied season highs in made 3-pointers, 3-point percentage, assists and turnovers committed. The 23 assists Saturday are the program's most since also recording 23 in an 86-62 victory over Lake Forest College (Ill.) during the opening round of the 2019 Division III Championship that the Titans went on to win for the first time in school history.

North Central College went 24 of 54 (.444) from the field, 7-for-19 (.368) from 3-point range and 12 of 13 (.923) at the foul line. The Cardinals entered the contest ranked second nationally with a .548 field goal percentage, third at 22.6 assists per game and eighth with a .361 field goal percentage defense. North Central College had not allowed an opponent to shoot better than 59% from the floor since Carthage College went 33 of 55 (.600) on Dec. 14, 2019.

Blaise Meredith had 20 points to lead the Cardinals, who also received 19 points from Matthew Helwig, and 11 points and a game high nine rebounds from Ethan Helwig. Matthew Helwig went into the game ranked third in the country at 29.4 points per contest.

UW-Oshkosh is off until hosting St. Norbert College for a nonconference game Dec. 21 in Kolf Sports Center.