Win Over Falcons Gives Titans Second-Place WIAC Finish

Jack Flynn and Adam Fravert had 19 points apiece to lead the UW-Oshkosh men's basketball team to a 74-64 win at UW-River Falls in the regular season finale Saturday (Feb. 22).

UW-Oshkosh (17-8, 11-3 WIAC) scored 12 unanswered points for a 21-9 lead it would not relinquish. The Titans took the lead for good at 12-9 following a David Vlotho 3-pointer with 10:49 remaining in the first half. UW-Oshkosh went on to hold UW-River Falls scoreless for more than four minutes during its pivotal 12-0 run that included four points from Flynn.

UW-River Falls (12-13, 5-9 WIAC) trailed by at least five points the entire second half against the defending NCAA Division III and conference champion Titans, who picked up their sixth straight win against the Falcons. UW-Oshkosh also defeated UW-River Falls, 89-62, on Jan. 18 in Oshkosh.

UW-Oshkosh concluded the regular season second in the conference standings – one game behind UW-Platteville (22-3, 12-2 WIAC), which is ranked seventh in the country by D3hoops.com. The Titans, who earned a bye in the first round of the six-team WIAC Championship that begins Tuesday (Feb. 25), will host a league semifinal contest Thursday (Feb. 27) in Kolf Sports Center.

UW-River Falls, seeded sixth for the conference tournament, plays at third-seeded and 24th-ranked UW-La Crosse (20-5, 9-5 WIAC) on Tuesday.

Fravert, who collected a team-high eight rebounds and recorded one block, shot 7-for-17 from the field during the season finale, including 3-for-9 from 3-point range en route to moving into a tie for eighth in WIAC history with 151 career blocks. The Titans' leading scorer for the 15th time this season, Fravert went into the night pacing the conference this season with 8.3 rebounds per game, 91 assists and 36 blocks.

Flynn went 7-for-14 from the floor and dished out a team-leading three assists. He has scored in double figures during the past 12 games and 21 times on the year. Flynn also grabbed four rebounds to increase his career total to 760, which is tied for sixth in school history.

UW-Oshkosh featured four double-digit scorers Saturday as Levi Borchert and Will Mahoney added 10 points apiece. Borchert, who entered the game with a WIAC-best .679 field goal percentage, shot 3-for-7 from the floor and pulled down a team co-leading eight rebounds. Eddie Muench knocked down a pair of 3-pointers and finished with eight points for the Titans.

The Titans concluded the game shooting 43.3 percent (26-60) from the field, 38.1 percent (8-21) from 3-point range and 73.7 percent (14-19) at the free throw line. The Titans owned considerable advantages of 41-28 in rebounds and 14-7 in assists after heading into the night leading the conference in scoring (82.8), average rebounding margin (+9.0), assist-to-turnover ratio (1.17) and per-game rebounds (41.9), assists (14.1) and blocks (3.5).

UW-River Falls shot 25 of 64 (.391) from the floor, 7-for-20 (.350) from beyond the 3-point arc and 7-for-9 (.778) at the foul line. The Falcons had edges of 7-4 in steals, 5-9 in turnovers and 3-2 in blocks.

Noah Hanson led the Falcons with 17 points, three steals and two blocks. He went 4-for-11 from the floor, including 4-for-10 from beyond the arc.

Jack Stensgard and Julian Jackson had 13 and 12 points, respectively, for UW-River Falls, which also received six rebounds and a team-best five assists from Bryce Phillips, off the bench and a team-leading eight rebounds from starter Austin Werdin.

UW-River Falls scored the first four points of the game and held the Titans scoreless for more than five minutes until Muench hit a 3-pointer that cut UW-Oshkosh's deficit to 4-3 with 14:54 left in the opening period. Tied for the third and final time at 9, Vlotho's 3-pointer put the Titans ahead to stay.

Borchert split a pair of free throws to extend the UW-Oshkosh cushion to 19-9 with 7:45 to go before intermission, and the Titans led by at least eight points until the 15:21 mark of the second half. An Eric Peterson 3-pointer increased UW-Oshkosh's lead to 36-22 with 87 seconds left in the opening period before Muench's second long-range jumper of the half gave the Titans a 39-25 advantage at intermission.

The Falcons pulled within 44-38 with just over 15 minutes to play, but Fravert accounted for the game's next five points on a dunk and 3-pointer ahead of a Borchert jumper that upped the UW-Oshkosh lead to 51-38 with 14:13 to go. Werdin connected on a 3-pointer to cut the Falcons' deficit to 60-55 at the 5:52 mark, and Hanson made three free throws to narrow the margin to 64-58 with 4:39 left. However, Flynn completed a three-point play 12 seconds later and split a pair of free throws on consecutive possessions to extend UW-Oshkosh's lead to 69-58 with 2:17 remaining.

UW-Oshkosh will host a WIAC Championship semifinal Thursday against the highest remaining seed after Tuesday's opening round.

WIAC Men's Basketball Standings: https://wiacsports.com/standings.aspx?path=mbball

WIAC Men's Basketball Championship Website: https://wiacsports.com/sports/2020/1/8/MBB_0108204030.aspx