#6 Pioneers survive Warhawks' second half rally

The sixth ranked team in the nation, UW-Platteville (21-3, 11-2), fended off UW-Whitewater (16-8, 6-7) Wednesday night on Bo Ryan Court coming away with a 70-66 win.

Quiet recently on the offensive side of the ball, Jake Showalter erupted for 13 points in the first half for the Pioneers. His back-to-back threes midway through the half gave UW-Platteville a burst of energy after a relatively slow start. A minute and a half later he hit a jumper to put the Pioneers up 17-10.

UW-Platteville's lead remained at seven at the 7:09 mark, but the Pioneers went on a 9-0 run covering a four minute span to give them their largest lead of the game at 16. The run was highlighted by a pair of Showalter baskets including his third three of the half.

The Pioneers started the second half with a 39-27 advantage, but the Warhawks slowly chipped into the lead over the next 19 minutes. Although UW-Whitewater never put a big run together, they didn't give up more than four consecutive points to UW-Platteville the entire second half.

Down 61-66 with 2:05 left in the game, the Warhawks' Andre Brown converted on an and-one opportunity. On their next possession UW-Whitewater's David Sachs hit a jumper to tie the game at 66-66 with 1:19 remaining.

On the Pioneers next possession Carter Voelker hit one of two free throws to put the score back in UW-Platteville's favor. UW-Whitewater was unable to convert on their next two possessions, and the Pioneers hit three of four free throws down the stretch for the 70-66 win.

"What an awesome environment to be a part of", said Coach Jeff Gard. "Our guys played great tonight and you could feel the support from our crowd." When talking about the fans, "I can't wait to see what they have in store Saturday night."

Showalter finished with 16 points, connecting four times from beyond the arc. Robert Duax had 14 for the Pioneers, and has now scored in double digits in 13 of UW-Platteville's last 14 games. Voelker played in 39 of 40 minutes for the Pioneers, contributing 10 points and 6 rebounds.

Brown led the Warhawks in scoring with 16 while Riley Jensen had 13 and Sachs 11.

Also defeating UW-Whitewater back on Jan. 24, the Pioneers complete a regular season sweep of the Warhawks for the first time since the 2004-05 season.

UW-Platteville keeps pace atop of the WIAC with UW-Stevens Point who knocked off #14 UW-Oshkosh 77-70 tonight in Stevens Point.

The Pioneers will host UW-River Falls Saturday, Feb. 17 to finish their regular season. The Falcons gave UW-Platteville one of their two conferences losses back on Jan. 10 with a 91-84 win in River Falls. The game is set to tip-off at 7 p.m.

By Korey Schroeder, Sports Information Assistant, UW-Platteville Athletics, 608.342.1255, schroederk@uwplatt.edu