Titans Complete Season Sweep Of Nationally Ranked Eagles
Jack Flynn had a team-leading 18 points and reached a career scoring milestone, Adam Fravert recorded his sixth consecutive double-double and the UW-Oshkosh men's basketball team upset nationally ranked UW-La Crosse, 79-74, Saturday (Feb. 8) in La Crosse.
UW-Oshkosh (13-8, 7-3 WIAC) trailed by as many as 11 points during the first half and faced a 47-38 deficit early in the second period before storming back to take the lead for good at 59-56 following a three-point play by Flynn with 9:08 remaining. Flynn's basket in the paint and subsequent free throw sparked a 9-0 Titan run that extended the lead to 65-56 with 5:24 to play. Levi Borchert later drained a 3-pointer for a 68-63 Titan advantage at the 3:28 mark, and UW-Oshkosh led by at least four points the rest of the way.
The reigning NCAA Division III and WIAC champion Titans, who swept the regular season series against UW-La Crosse, are now alone in second in the conference standings. UW-La Crosse (16-5, 5-5 WIAC), ranked 18th in the country by D3hoops.com, fell one spot into a tie for fifth in the conference. Twelfth-ranked UW-Platteville (18-3, 8-2 WIAC) remains atop the league standings with four games to play.
The Titans, who defeated the then-15th-ranked Eagles by a 79-63 score Jan. 4 in Oshkosh, have won six of their last seven meetings with UW-La Crosse.
Flynn shot 6-for-12 from the field and 6-for-7 at the free throw line Saturday en route to becoming the 10th UW-Oshkosh player to score 1,400 points. Flynn, who has scored in double figures in eight straight games and 74 times during his four seasons with the Titans, reached the career scoring milestone on a free throw – his final point of the night – with 5:52 left in the second half.
Borchert added 17 points on 7-for-10 shooting from the floor and seven rebounds for the Titans, who also received 16 points and a game-high 12 rebounds from Fravert, 14 points from Eddie Muench, and nine points from Eric Peterson. Fravert and Muench paced the Titans with four assists apiece.
Fravert's double-double was his WIAC-leading ninth of the season and 23rd career. He entered the day pacing the conference with 8.5 rebounds per game and 30 blocks. Borchert improved his conference-best field goal percentage to .684 on the year.
UW-Oshkosh concluded the contest shooting 29 of 56 (.518) from the floor, 6-for-17 (.353) from 3-point range and 15 of 21 (.714) at the free throw line. The Titans owned advantages of 36-30 in rebounds and 15-11 in assists. UW-Oshkosh, which has outrebounded 21 of its last 23 opponents, went into Saturday ranked seventh in the nation with a +9.6 average rebounding margin while also leading the WIAC in scoring (83.6), rebounds (43.0) and made 3-pointers (9.2) per game, and a 1.16 assist-to-turnover ratio.
UW-La Crosse shot 44.4 percent (28-63) from the field, 23.1 percent (6-26) from beyond the 3-point arc and 85.7 percent (12-14) at the foul line. The Eagles held edges of 10-13 in turnovers, 7-5 in steals and 3-2 in blocks after heading into the day sixth nationally with a .402 3-point percentage while leading the WIAC at 7.8 steals per game. The Eagles' .231 3-point percentage Saturday was their second lowest of the season.
Ethan Anderson led UW-La Crosse with a game-high 22 points and five rebounds. He went 8-for-15 from the floor, including 4-for-8 from beyond the 3-point arc.
Terek Nesheim and Zac Haese chipped in 10 and nine points, respectively, for the Eagles while Seth Anderson, Sam Burkart and Luke Norcia each had eight. UW-La Crosse's Wyatt Cook contributed seven points to go along with a team-leading four assists and game highs of five steals and three blocks. Haese was held to 1-for-7 shooting from 3-point range after entering the game with a league-leading 52 made 3-pointers.
Haese's offensive rebound and tip-in at the 15:57 mark of the first half gave the Eagles an 11-10 lead they would not relinquish until there was just under 14 minutes remaining in the game. A Nesheim jumper provided UW-La Crosse its largest lead at 31-20 with 9:11 left in the opening period, and the Eagles went into intermission with a 44-38 advantage as they shot 59.4 percent (19-32) from the field during the first half.
Ethan Anderson drained a 3-pointer on the first possession of the second half to increase the Eagle lead to 47-38. However, UW-Oshkosh held the Eagles to just two points over the next six minutes and tied the game at 49 following a Borchert jumper with 14:47 to go. The Titans then reclaimed their first lead in more than 24 minutes when Fravert hit a 3-pointer for a 53-51 edge with 11:22 left.
Tied for the fifth and final time at 56, Flynn's go-ahead three-point play sparked a string of nine straight UW-Oshkosh points, including six from Flynn ahead of Peterson's 3-pointer that extended the Titans' lead to 65-56 with 5:24 remaining.
An Ethan Anderson layup pulled UW-La Crosse within 65-63 with 3:42 left, but Borchert connected on his third 3-pointer this season in three attempts to up the UW-Oshkosh lead to 68-63. Peterson recorded a steal on the ensuing Eagles possession and passed to Fravert for a layup and a 70-63 cushion. Muench then put the game away with a layup of his own for a 72-63 UW-Oshkosh advantage at the 2:00 mark.
UW-Oshkosh remains on the road for a game at UW-Stevens Point on Wednesday (Feb. 12). The Titans won a 105-95 shootout over UW-Stevens Point on Jan. 22 in Oshkosh.
Photo courtesy of Jim Lund