Titans Complete Season Sweep Of Defending Conference Champion

Eddie Muench had a game-high 19 points, Levi Borchert added his league-leading 10th double-double and the UW-Oshkosh men's basketball team completed the regular season sweep over UW-Platteville with a 65-51 victory during a battle of Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference rivals ranked among the top five in the country Wednesday (Feb. 2) in Kolf Sports Center.

UW-Oshkosh (16-3, 6-2 WIAC), ranked fifth in the NCAA Division III by D3hoops.com, overcame an early 10-2 deficit and took the lead for good at 21-20 following a Borchert layup with 4:27 remaining in the first half. Borchert's basket in the paint sparked a string of 11 unanswered points for the Titans, who went on to lead by at least eight points for the final 22:51 of the contest.

The Titans have won their past three meetings with the Pioneers, including an 83-67 decision Jan. 19 in Platteville. UW-Oshkosh has now won 16 of its past 17 home games.

Second-ranked UW-Platteville (18-2, 7-2 WIAC), the two-time defending league regular season champion, had its eight-game road winning streak snapped after failing to score at least 60 points for the first time this season. The 51 points Wednesday were the Pioneers' fewest since a 58-49 setback at UW-Whitewater on Feb. 13, 2019.

Muench knocked down four 3-pointers and collected five rebounds and a pair of blocks on the way to scoring in double figures for the 14th time this season.

Borchert finished with 16 points on 7-for-9 shooting from the field, a game-best 13 rebounds, two assists and two blocks. Borchert, a 2021 D3hoops.com Third Team All-American is now averaging 18.8 points and 10.8 rebounds on the year.

Cole Booth chipped in 12 points on 4-for-5 shooting from the floor, including 3-for-4 from 3-point range, and three assists in 26 minutes of the UW-Oshkosh bench. Booth produced his fifth double-digit scoring effort of the season and third in the past four games.

Quinn Steckbauer contributed seven points and five rebounds for UW-Oshkosh, which also received eight rebounds and three assists from Eric Peterson, five points and three assists from Hunter Plamann, and six boards from Jonah Rindfleisch.

UW-Oshkosh shot 47.1% (24-51) from the field, 43.5% (10-23) from beyond the 3-point arc and 46.7% (7-15) at the free throw line. The Titans held advantages of 42-36 in rebounds, 13-4 in assists and 6-4 in blocks. UW-Oshkosh has outrebounded 17 of 19 opponents this season.

UW-Platteville went 22 of 67 (.328) from the floor, 3-for-20 (.150) from 3-point range and 4-for-6 (.667) at the foul line. The Pioneers, who missed their first 12 3-point attempts and did not register an assist during the first half, had edges of 4-13 in turnovers and 4-3 in steals.

UW-Oshkosh went into the night ranked second nationally with 9.2 turnovers per contest while UW-Platteville was 10th at 10.4. The Pioneers, who entered the night pacing the conference in both free throw attempts and made free throws, established new season lows in field goal percentage, 3-point percentage, assists, made 3-pointers, made free throws and free throw attempts.

Jack Huml led UW-Platteville with 16 points while Ben Probst and Quentin Shields had 10 apiece. Justin Stovall recorded four points and a team-leading 11 rebounds for the Pioneers.

The Pioneers raced out to their 10-2 lead by making four of their first six field goal attempts. However, UW-Platteville shot just 6-for-26 from the floor during the remainder of the first half as UW-Oshkosh went into intermission with a 32-22 lead.

UW-Oshkosh pulled even at 14 after a Plamann free throw and again at 16 following a Booth layup. Steckbauer later drilled a 3-pointer that provided the Titans with their first lead at 19-18 with 5:26 left in the first half. Stovall then provided the Pioneers their final advantage at 20-19 ahead of Borchert's layup that ignited the game-changing 11-0 run that spanned nearly three minutes. Muench drained a pair of 3-pointers in a 32-second stretch as he and Borchert accounted for all 11 UW-Oshkosh points during the surge.

The Titans owned their largest lead of 15 points on two occasions in the second half as Booth knocked down a 3-pointer for a 41-26 advantage before a Plamann free throw extended the lead to 44-29 at the 12:12 mark.

UW-Oshkosh went on to lead by double figures the rest of the way following a Muench 3-pointer that gave the Titans a 53-41 advantage with 7:00 left.

Wednesday's attendance of 1,094 was the largest for a regular season home game in Kolf Sports Center since drawing 1,265 versus UW-Stevens Point on Feb. 19, 2014. Wednesday also marked the first meeting between teams ranked in the D3hoops.com top five in Kolf Sports Center history.

The Titans remain at home to host UW-Stout on Saturday (Feb. 5) in Kolf Sports Center.

Photo by Patrick Flood, UW-Oshkosh Marketing & Communications