Phenomenal First-Half Shooting Leads Titans To Rout Of Knights

Jack Flynn matched his season high with 20 points on 9-for-9 shooting from the field to lead the nationally ranked UW-Oshkosh men's basketball team to a 92-56 rout of Calvin College (Mich.) on Saturday (Dec. 8) in Kolf Sports Center.

UW-Oshkosh (7-1), ranked seventh in the NCAA Division III by D3hoops.com, made its first eight shots from the field and both free throw attempts on the way to building a 21-7 lead with 15:28 left in the opening half. The Titans, who took the lead for good at 5-3 on a 3-pointer by Brett Wittchow 48 seconds into the game, went on to make 16 of their first 20 field goal attempts for a 42-20 advantage at the 7:20 mark.

The Titans owned a 53-31 lead at intermission and led by at least 20 points for the final 27:54 of the contest.

Flynn's nine field goals in one game without a miss are the most in program history. He finished one made basket shy of joining 15 other WIAC players who have produced games with 10 or more field goals without a miss. Flynn went 6-for-6 from the floor in the first half and 3-for-3 during the second before exiting with just under eight minutes remaining.

Wittchow and Ben Boots both added 14 points for the Titans, who also received a career-high 12 points from Jake Zeitler and 10 from Adam Fravert as UW-Oshkosh had five double-digit scorers for the second time this season. Fravert collected a team-leading seven rebounds while Boots dished out a game-high five assists. Boots and Zeitler combined to shoot 8-for-11 from 3-point range, including a 4-for-5 effort from Zeitler in nine minutes played off the bench.

UW-Oshkosh ended the game shooting a season-best 56.3 percent (36-64) from the floor, including a 65.6 rate (21-32) during the first half. The Titans hit a season-high 15 3-pointers on 33 attempts (45.5 percent) while making 5 of 7 shots (71.4 percent) from the free throw line. UW-Oshkosh, which has topped 90 points each of the past three games and averages 86.6 points per contest, also compiled advantages Saturday in rebounds (36-29), assists (22-7), turnovers (7-11) and blocks (4-3).

UW-Oshkosh, which advanced to last season's NCAA Division III title game, went into the Saturday ranked eighth nationally with a 1.56 assist-to-turnover ratio, ninth with 10.4 turnovers committed per contest and 18th with a +18.1 average scoring margin.

Calvin College (4-5), which suffered its largest loss since at least the 1995-96 season, scored its fewest, and allowed its most, points of the season.

The Knights shot 39 percent (23-59) from the field, 20 percent (3-15) from 3-point range and 77.8 percent (7-9) at the foul line. Calvin College was held to its lowest rebound and assist totals of the year while tying season-low totals in made field goals and made 3-pointers.

The Titans opened the game with an alley-oop dunk from Wittchow to Fravert just 13 seconds into the contest. UW-Oshkosh's string of eight consecutive made field goals continued with Wittchow's 3-pointer that provided the Titans their final lead and a Wittchow layup. Flynn then scored three straight baskets in the paint ahead of back-to-back 3-pointers by Wittchow and Boots in the span of 23 seconds that increased UW-Oshkosh's advantage to 21-7 less than five minutes into the contest.

A layup from Flynn culminated UW-Oshkosh's 16-for-20 shooting start over the first 15 minutes, which included a pair of 3-pointers by Eric Peterson. The Titans led by as many as 25 points on two occasions during the first half as a three-point play from David Vlotho gave UW-Oshkosh a 47-22 advantage with 4:22 left in the opening period and a Wittchow layup upped the lead to 51-26 at the 1:28 mark.

UW-Oshkosh owned its largest lead of 41 points at 92-51 following a 3-pointer by Sam Ebersold with 2:36 remaining.

Calvin College's Derrick DeVries led all players with 21 points. Thad Shymanski added 10 points for the Knights.

UW-Oshkosh has won its past three meetings with the two-time national champion Knights, including a 77-74 decision last season at Calvin College and a 73-52 victory in Oshkosh during the 2016-17 campaign. Calvin College claimed Division III titles in 1992 and 2000.

The Titans play Lawrence University on Friday (Dec. 14) in Appleton.

Photo courtesy of Steve Frommell, D3Photography.com