Trey-mendous; Sigel's hot hand leads Pioneers to victory over Dubuque

PLATTEVILLE, Wis. — Junior guard Trey Sigel (Rock Island, Ill.) hit five 3-pointers and scored 27 points in a career-best performance to lead the University of Wisconsin–Platteville men’s basketball team to an 83–78 wire-to-wire victory over the University of Dubuque Wednesday night at Bo Ryan Court.

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Trey-mendous; Sigel's hot hand leads Pioneers to victory over Dubuque
December 14, 2016

PLATTEVILLE, Wis. — Junior guard Trey Sigel (Rock Island, Ill.) hit five 3-pointers and scored a 27 points in a career-best performance to lead the University of Wisconsin–Platteville men's basketball team to an 83–78 wire-to-wire victory over the University of Dubuque Wednesday night at Bo Ryan Court.

UW–Platteville's 11-day break in action had little effect on Sigel, as the 6'2" shooting guard was red-hot in the first half, making all five of his 3-point attempts and all four free throw attempts en route to 21 points and a 43–32 Pioneer lead. Sigel finished the game with a career-high 27 points on just nine field goal attempts. He went six of nine from the field, including five of six from beyond the arc, and a perfect 10 of 10 from the free throw line. He also chipped in four rebounds and an assist. 

Sigel's previous career-high was 20 points in 78–62 victory over Lindsey Wilson College (Ky.) on Nov. 18. 

Senior forward Cory Vaassen (Dickeyville/Cuba City) added 19 points on seven-of-10 shooting. Junior forward Jake Showalter (Germantown) had 13 points and four rebounds off the bench. Sophomore Robert Duax (Dubuque/Hempstead) added 10 points, five rebounds and three steals. 

UW–Platteville improved to 6–2 on the season, while the visiting Spartans fell to as UD fell to 2–4. 

Sigel made four 3-pointers in the game's first 5:24 as the Pioneers raced out to a 19–6 lead and never trailed in the game. 

The Spartans clawed back to within six points at 25–19 with 8:48 left in the opening half on back-to-back 3-pointers from Jamaree Atwater. 

Showalter stemmed the tide with a breakaway one-handed slam moments later and Vaassen followed that with a 3-pointer from the top of the key. The Pioneers closed the half on a 10–4 run to take a 42–33 lead into the locker room. 

Sigel's hot first-half shooting opened up the lane for others, as the Pioneers attacked inside with multiple post ups in the second half. Showalter made three layups in a row midway through the second half to make it 57–46 as UW–Platteville fought of UD comeback attempt. 

Dubuque cut the lead to five points with 10 minutes left in the game on a pair of free throws by Jake Weber, but coach Jeff Gard's club answered with 12–2 run to give the Pioneers their biggest lead of the game at 75–60 with 4:24 left. 

Junior guard T.J. Lake, who was equally as impressive as Sigel in the game, wouldn't let UD go down without a fight. Lake hit a trio of 3-pointers and scored 13 of his game-high 31 points over the next four minutes to trim the lead to five at 81–76 with 21 seconds left, but Sigel put the game out of reach with his ninth and 10th free throws of the night. 

UW–Platteville shot 55.8 percent (29 of 52) from the field in the game, including 41.2 percent (7 of 17) from 3-point land. The Pioneers dominated inside, outscoring UD 32–16 in the paint. The Spartans kept the game close by making 13 of 30 3-pointers, seven of those by Lake.

The Pioneers will return to action Saturday when they travel to Dubuque to face Loras. Tip off is set for 4 p.m. The Duhawks (4–4) defeated UW–La Crosse 88–79 on Saturday.

By Jason Nihles, UW–Platteville Sports Information