Pioneers win nail biter at Olivet

OLIVET, Mich. – The No. 4 nationally ranked University of Wisconsin-Platteville men's basketball team scored the final eight points of the game Friday night to hold off and beat Olivet College 63-57 in the Cutler Event Center. The Pioneers improve to 10-0 on the season after the hard-fought road win. 

Neither UW-Platteville nor Olivet (2-3) managed to build more than a two-possession lead for the entirety of the game. Blake McCann (Sr./Janesville, Wis.) lead the squad with a career-high 22 points, attributing 13 second-half points following the Pioneers' one-point lead at the half. 

Justin Stovall (Sr./Chicago, Ill.) started things off by blocking three of the Comets' first four shots of the night. Olivet built its largest lead of the game, 8-2, three minutes into the game, but back-to-back three-point baskets by Ben Probst (So./Madison, Wis.) gave UW-Platteville its first lead of the night, 16-14 at the 11:56 mark. 

From there, both teams went on a two-and-a-half-minute cold streak until a made jump shot by Stovall at the 9:23 mark finally changed the scoreboard. UW-Platteville held the narrow lead until back-to-back three-pointers from Derrik Johnson gave Olivet a 30-28 lead with a minute to go in the half. Probst added one final three-point of the half in the final seconds, reclaiming the lead and sending the Pioneers into halftime leading 31-30. 

The teams exchanged the lead three times in the first 10 minutes of the second. McCann scored eight of the first 13 UW-Platteville buckets, giving the Pioneers a 55-52 lead with just under five minutes left in the game. A Tevin Ali layup and made free throw nudged Olivet ahead, 57-55 with 2:19 on the board. 

Kyle Tuma (Sr./Valders, Wis.) dropped in a perfectly timed three-pointer to take back the lead 58-57 with 1:56 to go. Quentin Shields (Sr./Chicago, Ill.) followed Tuma's go-ahead shot with a layup which forced Olivet to call timeout with 1:15 on the board. 

The Comets fouled Shields with 0:34 on the clock and the Pioneer made both free throws to extend UW-Platteville's lead to 62-57. Tuma grabbed a defensive rebound on Olivet's next possession and added another made free throw with 0:25 to extend the lead to 63-57 before time expired. 

The Pioneers finished shooting 35.3 percent (24-of-68) from the floor, 34.8 percent (8-of-23) from beyond the three-point arc and 77.8 percent (7-of-9) from the foul line. Olivet shot 32.9 percent (23-of-70) from the field, 26.1 percent (6-of-23) from three-point territory and 83.3 percent (5-of-6) from the free throw line. 

Stovall finished with four blocks, 11 rebounds and nine points. McCann added eight rebounds and two assists to the 22-point night. 

The Pioneers will return to action tomorrow afternoon when they continue their Michigan road trip and stop at Hope College. Game time is set for 2 p.m. CST on Saturday, Dec. 11.