Men's Basketball Squeaks Past Colorado College, 61-59

LA VERNE, Calif. – The University of Wisconsin-Platteville squeaked past Colorado College, 61-59, on Saturday night in La Verne, Calif.

The Pioneers were ahead 60-59 with 8.6 seconds left and sophomore Trevor Wittwer sank the first of two free throws to give UW-Platteville the 61-59 advantage. The Tigers' Ryan Milne received the outlet pass from Ian Rewoldt and stormed towards the basket. As Milne charged toward the hole the Pioneers' Chas Cross knocked the ball loose and saved the ball as time expire for the Pioneers, 61-59 victory.

 Senior Rob Stallion led UW-Platteville with 11 points followed by Jim Stocki and Eric Gerber with nine points apiece. Cross tallied eight points and eight rebounds while Jake Manning scored eight points and pulled down seven boards.

Justin Berardino and Milne led the way for the Tigers with 12 points each. Chris Lesnansky netted 11 points rounding out CC's top scorers.

The Tigers jumped right on the Pioneers, taking a quick seven-point lead, 13-7. UW-Platteville battled back and took their second lead of the game 24-23 with 6:42 left till the break. The Pioneers would go on a 14-4 to end the half and take a 38-27 lead into intermission.

The Pioneers shot a stellar 61.5 percent (16-26) in the first-half but the second-half was a different story. UW-Platteville were 7-22 (31.8%) from the floor in the final period as the Tigers improved from 8-22 (36.4%) to 12-27 (44.4%) in the second-half.

In the second-half, Colorado College brought it to a two possession contest, 43-49, at the 9:38 mark. Justin Berardino made the front end of a one-and-one to give the Tigers their first lead, 55-54, since the first half with just under three minutes to play. On the very next possession the Pioneers regained the lead on a Stallion layup and never looked back.

UW-Platteville returns to conference play on Jan. 5 when they travel to UW-La Crosse. Tip is set for 5:30 p.m. in Mitchell Hall Gymnasium.