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UW-Oshkosh's Eddie Muench led all players with a career-high 27 points, including seven 3-point baskets.
UW-Oshkosh's Eddie Muench led all players with a career-high 27 points, including seven 3-point baskets.

Pioneers Pull Away From Titans In Game's Final Minutes

Box Score

The UW-Platteville men's basketball team shot better than 66 percent from the field in the second half and pulled away for an 88-75 win over UW-Oshkosh during the season opener Wednesday (Feb. 3) in Platteville.

UW-Platteville, the defending Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference regular season champion, went 18 of 27 from the floor after intermission, including 6-for-10 from 3-point range, to overcome slim deficits of 37-35 at halftime and 60-59 with under 11 minutes remaining in the game.

Clinging to a 69-67 advantage at the 5:35 mark, the Pioneers made six of their next seven field goal attempts to extend the lead to 82-72 with 1:43 to go. UW-Platteville then put the game away by converting six of nine free throws over the final 80 seconds.

Justin Stovall paced UW-Platteville with 24 points on 9-for-10 shooting from the field to go along with 10 rebounds, three assists and three blocks.

Pioneer starters, who combined to shoot 28 of 45 (62.2 percent) from the floor, accounted for 75 of the team's points as Quentin Shields had 19, Kyle Tuma 15 and Logan Pearson 14. Shields added three assists and a game-high three steals.

UW-Oshkosh's Eddie Muench led all players with a career-high 27 points, shooting 10 of 16 from the floor and 7-for-12 from 3-point range. Muench surpassed his previous career high of 16 points on the first possession of the second half.

Hunter Plamann, making his Titan debut after transferring from the University of Minnesota Duluth, and Will Mahoney added 22 and 12 points, respectively. Eric Peterson chipped in seven points and a game-best 11 rebounds for UW-Oshkosh.

UW-Platteville finished the night shooting 54 percent (34-63) from the floor, 36.4 percent (8-22) from beyond the 3-point arc and 60 percent (12-20) at the free throw line. The Pioneers, who reached the second round of the 2020 NCAA Division III Championship, held advantages of 37-31 in rebounds, 12-7 in assists, 12-16 in turnovers, 5-1 in blocks and 7-4 in steals.

Reigning WIAC tournament champion UW-Oshkosh, which also advanced to the second round of last season's Division III Championship, shot 27 of 56 (48.2 percent) from the field, 12 of 29 (41.4 percent) from 3-point range and 9-for-15 (60 percent) at the foul line.

UW-Oshkosh raced out to a 10-2 lead and maintained an advantage until UW-Platteville knotted the score at 13 with 13:00 left in the first half and took its first lead at 24-23 at the 6:31 mark of the opening period. The Pioneers held a 34-31 edge with under a minute to play in the first half, but a 3-pointer from Muench and another by Plamann at the buzzer provided the Titans a 37-35 lead at halftime.

The Titans extended their lead to 47-40 following three Muench 3-pointers and a Mahoney free throw at the 17:36 mark of the second half. The Pioneers later scored 10 unanswered points to reclaim a 60-54 lead with 12 minutes to go, but a JT Petrie 3-pointer and a pair of Mahoney layups provided UW-Oshkosh a 61-60 edge at the 10:56 mark.

Leading 69-67 with 5:35 left, the Pioneers' decisive shooting display over the next four minutes began with a Tuma 3-pointer and continued with three consecutive layups from Stovall, Shields and Pearson for a 78-69 advantage. After a missed 3-pointer, UW-Platteville capped its stretch to six makes in seven field goal attempts with jumpers from Pearson and Shields for an 82-72 lead with 1:43 remaining.

Both UW-Platteville and UW-Oshkosh had not played a game since March 7.

UW-Oshkosh hosts UW-Platteville on Friday (Feb. 5) in Kolf Sports Center.

Photo courtesy of UW-Platteville Athletics