Seniors Cross and Gerber lead Men's Hoops past UW-La Crosse

PLATTEVILLE, Wis. – Senior Chas Cross scored a career-high 33 points to lead the University of Wisconsin-Platteville men's basketball team past UW-La Crosse, 80-79, Saturday on Bo Ryan Court. 

Cross was 14-for-17 from the field and netted 17 of his 33 points in the first half.  Senior Eric "Skip" Gerber tied a personal-best 18 points and was 4-for-4 from three-point range. Sophomore Boston Johnson and junior Jim Stocki each tallied 10 points, and Stocki also grabbed a game-high 11 rebounds for his first double-double of the season. 

The Eagles' Calahan Skogman recorded a team-best 22 points and seven rebounds. 

UWL scored the first two points of the game, then the Pioneers went on to score nine unanswered, taking a 9-2 lead in the first four minutes of the game. The Pioneers managed to push their lead 13 points, 37-24, their largest lead of the game, with 3:41 till halftime. The Eagles forced three turnovers in the final two minutes of the half and cut the Pioneers' lead to seven points at halftime, 41-34. 

The Eagles full court press finally got the Pioneers early in the second half as UWL scored seven unanswered to cut its deficit to two, 49-47. The Eagles tied it up at 51-51 with just over 15 minutes left to play, and went to take their largest lead of the game, 68-58, at the 8:57 mark. Cross and Gerber then went on to score the Pioneers' final 22 points.

Gerber drilled a three-pointer as the shot clock was winding down, giving UW-Platteville a 76-75 advantage, before UWL's  Jared Staege made a pair free throws give the Eagles the lead back, 77-76 with 1:30 to go. Then a Pioneer turnover gave UWL's Skylar Cameron, which looked like a quick easy layup, but Cross came barrelling down the lane blocking Cameron's layup to keep it to a one-point game. On the ensuing Pioneer possession, Cross managed make a layup in traffic, giving UW-Platteville a78-77 lead with 35.5 seconds to play. UWL came right back down the floor and scored a quick two giving the Pioneers 19 seconds to score the go-ahead basket. The Pioneers once again found Cross in the post and Cross delivered the eventual game-winning bucket with 8.3 seconds left to play, 80-79. The Eagles' Braden Tice got a pretty good look at the potential game winning three-pointer, but the shot was long, and Stocki grabbed is 10th defensive rebound as time expired. 

The Pioneers welcomes No. 1 ranked UW-Stevens Point on Wednesday with tip-off set for 7 p.m.