Shields’ career-high night fuels Pioneers’ second half rally and comeback win at Stout

Photo courtesy of UW-Stout Sports Information

MENOMONIE, Wis. – The No. 2 nationally ranked University of Wisconsin-Platteville men's basketball team outscored the University of Wisconsin-Stout 49-34 in the second half to overcome a 13-point deficit at halftime and go on to win 74-72. Quentin Shields (Sr./Chicago, Ill.) had a career-high 32 points on Saturday afternoon at Johnson Fieldhouse, including 22 in the second half alone.

The Pioneers bounce back from Wednesday's loss to No. 5 UW-Oshkosh and improve to 17-1 on the season and 6-1 in the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference. UW-Stout drops to 12-6 and 3-4 in the WIAC.

"Proud of the team's resiliency tonight," said head coach Jeff Gard after the win. "Obviously anytime you can get a win on the road in the WIAC you're happy, but to have to battle back the way we did is a credit to our players' poise and character." 

In the teams' second match-up this season, the Blue Devils came out strong looking to avenge the Pioneers' 93-86 win on Bo Ryan Court earlier in the month and led for a majority of the half with their biggest lead of 16 falling with 3:37 remaining before halftime.

UW-Platteville struggled in the first half and shot just 30.3 percent (10-of-33) from the field while UW-Stout finished the half shooting 50 percent (13-of-26) from the floor and added 11-of-13 (84.6 percent) from the foul line to lead 38-25 at the half. 

The Pioneers returned from the break and Shields and Ben Probst (So./Madison, Wis.) teamed up for a 10-2 run where the two registered back-to-back layups and back-to-back three-pointers to cut the Blue Devils' lead to 50-46 with 13:10 on the clock. 

Midway through the half, Drew Scott's layup gave UW-Stout another double-digit lead (58-47), but Kyle Tuma (Sr./Valders, Wis.) added six along with another four by Shields to narrow the Blue Devils' lead to 61-57 with 6:29 to go. 

UW-Stout led by nine (70-61) at the 2:41 mark as the Pioneers' continued their attempt to close the gap. Probst drilled a three, assisted by Shields at 2:20. Alex Ranney (Sr./. Waterloo, Wis.) grabbed the rebound off Luke Geiger's missed jumper and Probst drew a foul to send the Pioneer to the line with 1:20 on the clock. 

Probst missed the first and made the second of the two free throws and the Pioneers trailed 70-65. Probst forced a Blue Devil turnover which was followed by a Shields' layup to make it three-point game with 1:14 left in regulation. 

UW-Stout's Brody Fox added two before the Blue Devils sent Ranney to the line with one minute on the board. Ranney missed the first and made the second for UW-Platteville to trail 72-68. Another Blue Devil turnover seconds after the free throw returned possession to the Pioneers and a shooting foul on UW-Stout from behind the arc sent the leading scorer to the line to shoot three.

Shields made all three and cut UW-Stout's lead to one (72-71) with 0:57 on the clock. UW-Platteville forced another turnover and Shields added two more to bring his total to 22 points in the half as UW-Platteville took a 73-72 lead with 0:49 on the clock.

UW-Stout missed their next shot at 0:19 and Tuma grabbed the rebound along with a foul drawn to go to the line shooting two. Tuma missed the first, but made the second to give the ball back to UW-Stout one more time. UW-Platteville called the timeout with 0:18 on the clock holding a 74-72 lead. UW-Stout set up and Tinsley took the shot from three-point territory in attempt to win the game, but the shot bounced off the rim and the Pioneers' secured the comeback win. 

The Blue Devils turned the ball over 10 times in the second half to the Pioneers' four.

UW-Platteville shot 40.6 percent from the field, making 23.1 percent (6-of-26) of three-pointers. UW-Stout shot 48.1 percent (25-of-52) from the field, making 27.3 percent (3-of-11) from behind the arc. UW-Platteville was 64 percent (16-of-25) from the foul line while UW-Stout made 19-of-28 (67.9 percent) of free throws. 

Shields led all scorers with 32 points, while Probst added 16 and Tuma tallied 12. 

The Pioneers will return to action and Bo Ryan Court when they host No. 10 nationally ranked UW-La Crosse on Wednesday, Jan. 26. Game time is set for 7 p.m. on Welcome Back Night.