Pioneers sail past Pirates 90-69

PLATTEVILLE, Wis. – The #5 ranked University of Wisconsin-Platteville men's basketball team made 61.1 percent of their shots and were 45 percent from behind the 3-point arc in route to a 90-69 victory over #19 ranked Whitworth University. The Pirates made the trip to Bo Ryan Court from Spokane, Washington for day one of the Gabe Miller Classic and will travel to UW-Whitewater on Saturday.

The Pioneers improve to 2-0 overall and hand the 2-1 Pirates their first loss of the season.  

For the second game in a row, UW-Platteville was last out of the gates which offered Whitworth their only lead of the game with a 3-pointer by Jojo Anderson.  From then on, the Pioneers added 13 unanswered points for a 10-point advantage less than four minutes into the game. UW-Platteville went on an 11-2 run in the final three minutes of the half to head into break with a 20-point lead, 48-28.

The Pioneers finished the first half shooting 65.5 percent and were 7-of-12 (58.3 percent) from 3-point territory. Three Pioneers reached double digits in the first half as Quentin Shields (Sr. / Chicago, Ill.) paced the team with 13, Logan Pearson (So. / Appleton, Wis.) totaled 11 and Blake McCann (Sr. / Janesville, Wis.) added 10 points.

UW-Platteville rushed out to their largest lead of the night at the start of the second half, taking a 62-36 lead six minutes into the second frame. The Pirates' best attempt at a comeback followed and Whitworth worked its way back as close as 71-60 with 7:00 left in the game, but three minutes later, the Pioneers extended their lead to 20 once again.

Kyle Tuma (Sr. / Valders, Wis.) dominated the second half, registering 16 points in the half by shooting 75 percent (3-of-4) and making all nine attempts from the free throw line.

Tuma finished with a game-high 21 points and added another double-double to the season with 14 rebounds. Shields finished 19 points and a game-high seven assists while McCann finished with 18 points.  Justin Stovall (Sr. / Chicago, Ill.) also finished in double digits with 11 rebounds on the night.

Overall, UW-Platteville was 33-of-54 from the field, 9-of-20 from behind the 3-point arc and was 15-of-22 from the free throw line. Whitworth finished 34.8 percent (24-of-69) and shot 28.6 percent (8-of-28) from 3-point territory in addition to shooting 72.2 percent (13-of-18) from the free throw line.

UW-Platteville will return to action tomorrow night at 7 p.m. for day two of the Gabe Miller Classic when it welcomes Gustavus Adolphus to Bo Ryan Court.