Johnson's career-high 30 points not enough in loss to visiting UW-Whitewater

PLATTEVILLE, Wis. – Senior forward Boston Johnson (Oshkosh/North) poured in a career night 30 points, but it still wasn't enough for the University of Wisconsin-Platteville men's basketball team to overcome a torrid shooting night by visiting UW-Whitewater Wednesday night at Bo Ryan Court.

The white-hot Warhawks connected on 13 of 23 three-point attempts (56.4 percent) in the game and shot a sizzling 56.5 percent (31-for-55) from the floor in a 104-86 WIAC victory over coach Jeff Gard's Pioneers.

UW-Platteville has now lost four straight games since beating these same Warhawks 76-73 in overtime at Whitewater two weeks ago. The Pioneers fell to 10-12 overall and 4-7 in the WIAC with their most recent loss, while the Warhawks improved to 14-8 overall and 5-6 in conference.

Johnson did his best to keep the Pioneers close for three quarters of the game, but the Warhawks pulled away in the final 10 minutes of play behind the strong play of senior Trinson White and the long-distance marksmanship of senior Haki Stampley.

A layup by Johnson gave UW-Platteville a 14-12 with 13:28 left in the first half, but White answered with a three-pointer the next trip down court and the Pioneers never led again.

White drilled a step-back jumper with 12 seconds remaining as UW-Whitewater closed the half on a 11-4 run to take a 47-35 lead into the locker room.

The Warhawks lead grew to as much as 20 points early in the second half when Cole Can Schyndel and Maurquis Turner made back-to-back three-pointers to extend the UWW advantage to 62-42 with 17:46 left in the game.

The Pioneers began chipping away behind the post moves of Johnson. The senior from Oshkosh scored 10 of UW-Platteville's next 18 points at the Pioneers pulled got as close as 11 at 75-64 on a layup by freshman Colin Connelly (Guttenberg, Iowa) with 10:38 remaining.

But White and Stampley combined to score 12 points over the next six minutes as UW-Whitewater went on a 19-5 run to take a commanding 94-69 lead.

White finished three rebounds shy of triple-double, posting a team-high 27 points, 10 assists and seven rebounds. White also went a perfect 10-for-10 from the free throw line as the Warhawks converted on 29 of 35 (82.9 percent) from the charity stripe for the game.

Stampley made 4 of 7 three-point attempts and finished with 23 points and five boards. Junior Cole Van Schyndel added 16 points and eight boards off the bench.

Johnson connected on 11 of 19 shot attempts on his way to a new career-high to lead the Pioneers. He also had three rebounds and two assists.

Sophomore guard Matt Oestreich (Marshfield) had a strong game with 14 points, four assists and three rebounds, but no other Pioneer reached double figures in the loss.  Junior forward Cory Vaassen (Dickeyville/Cuba City) and freshman Robert Duax (Dubuque, Iowa/Hempstead) scored seven points apiece.

 The Pioneers will return to action Saturday at UW-River Falls (13-9, 7-4 WIAC) before closing out the regular season next week with home games against UW-Stevens Point (12-10, 5-6) on Wednesday, Feb. 17 and UW-Stout (4-17, 0-11) on Saturday, Feb. 20.