Pioneers Hold Off Warhawks’ Second Half Push

PLATTEVILLE, Wis. – The University of Wisconsin-Platteville men’s basketball team (5-1, 5-1 WIAC) completed the sweep against the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater (1-4, 1-4 WIAC) Friday night with a 64-58 win on Bo Ryan Court.

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Pioneers Hold Off Warhawks’ Second Half Push
February 19, 2021

PLATTEVILLE, Wis. – The University of Wisconsin-Platteville men's basketball team (5-1, 5-1 WIAC) completed the sweep against the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater (1-4, 1-4 WIAC) Friday night with a 64-58 win on Bo Ryan Court.

Both teams held the other to less than 37 percent from the floor, but the Pioneers escaped a second-half push from the Warhawks by shooting 92 percent (23-25) from the free throw line.

The two squads exchanged leads with neither pulling ahead by more than five points for a majority of the first half. After being knotted 20-20 with 4:33 left in the first frame, UW-Platteville had the final say with the last straight 11 points to lead 31-23 at the half.

Two reserve Warhawks, Breontae Hunt and Trevon Chislom, accounted for 8-14 made shots for Whitewater in the second half and dissolved the Pioneers lead, 42-42, by the 10:28 mark. UW-Whitewater led 48-47 at 7:23, but a layup followed by a jump shot and four made free throws by Justin Stovall (Sr./Chicago, Ill.) gave the Pioneers a seven-point lead, 55-48 with 4:54 left in the game.

UW-Whitewater regained the lead, 58-57, for the final time with just over two minutes left. A made layup and one by Kyle Tuma (Jr./Valders, Wis.) nudged UW-Platteville ahead 60-58 with 0:39 on the clock. A missed Warhawk 3-point attempt was pulled down by Tuma along with a Warhawk foul. The Pioneer made two more free-throws to extend the lead to four with 0:15 remaining. A bad pass by Whitewater returned possession to UW-Platteville and a Warhawk foul sent Logan Pearson (Fr./Appleton, Wis.) to the line to add two final points to the 64-58 lead.

Tuma led the game with 13 rebounds. Stovall had a game high three blocks and tied Chislom for a game high 18 points. Quentin Shields (Sr./Chicago, Ill.) tallied 16 points, six rebounds, and three assists.

Blake McCann (Jr./Janesville, Wis.) added nine points from the Pioneers' reserves while the Warhawks' bench accounted for 40 of the teams 58 points.  

Overall, the Pioneers shot 36.5 percent (19-52) from the field with 23.1 percent (3-13) from 3-point territory. The Warhawks finished 36.8 percent (21-57) from the field, 26.3 percent (5-19) from the 3-point arc, and 68.8 percent (11-16) from the free throw line.

The game saw eight lead changes and seven ties with UW-Platteville leading for 21 minutes and UW-Whitewater for 10 minutes.

Friday night's game marked the end of divisional play for the Pioneers. Each WIAC team will now play a team from the opposite division in the final week of WIAC regular season play. UW-Platteville will return to action and travel to UW-La Crosse on Wednesday, Feb. 24 at 7 p.m.