Pioneers Win WIAC Championship Behind Second Half Surge

PLATTEVILLE, Wis. – Behind a strong shooting second half, the University of Wisconsin-Platteville men's basketball team (23-4) won the WIAC Championship 91-74 over UW-River Falls (15-12) on Saturday night on Bo Ryan Court.

The conference tournament win is the fourth in program history for the Pioneers. UW-Platteville claimed both the regular season and tournament titles in the same season for the first time since 1999.

The game went back-and-forth for much of the first half, and the score sat even at 37 apiece heading into the break. The first half featured seven lead changes and eight ties, with the biggest lead for each team being five points. Junior Brady Olson provided the early scoring spark with three made threes and 11 points in the half, while senior Logan Pearson added 10 points.

Early in the second half, a 10-point Pioneers run turned a four-point lead into a 60-46 advantage with 13:02 remaining. UW-Platteville's offense continued to click in the coming minutes, as three-point makes by senior Ben Probst and sophomore Max Love helped the lead grow to 16. Six more unanswered points made it 80-57 with just under five minutes to play and the Pioneers led by as many as 27 in the closing minutes to win 91-74.

UW-Platteville shot 69.7 percent (23-of-33) from the floor in the second half, including 64.3 percent (9-of-14) from beyond the arc. The strong shooting raised the team's field goal percentage to 55.6 percent (35-of-63) for the game and 48.4 percent (15-of-31) from deep. The Pioneers went 12-of-15 (80.0 percent) from the free throw line in the win.

After allowing the Falcons to shoot 46.4 percent (13-of-28) in the first half, UW-Platteville held the visitors to just 35.1 percent (13-of-37) in the second half. UW-River Falls finished the game at 40.0 percent (26-of-65) from the field and 29.6 percent (8-of-27) from deep.

Pearson scored 21 points to lead five players in double figures for the Pioneers. Olson (15), Probst (13), Love (12), and sophomore Miles Hettinger (12) joined him in double digits. Probst grabbed a team-high eight rebounds.

UW-Platteville moved the ball well, finishing with 19 assists. Love paced the team with four, while Probst, Pearson, and sophomore Aiden Wieczorek each added three.

The Pioneers secured the WIAC automatic bid to the NCAA Division III National Tournament which begins next Friday. UW-Platteville will find out its opponent at the NCAA Selection Show, which will take place on Monday at noon.