Falcons edge Pioneers

RIVER FALLS, Wis. – The No. 5 nationally ranked University of Wisconsin-Platteville men's basketball team dropped a second straight WIAC contest Saturday night at the University of Wisconsin-River Falls Page Arena. The Pioneers drop to 19-4 overall and 8-4 in the league while the Falcons improve to 12-9 and 5-7 in the WIAC.

Saturday's outcome marks the first loss to UW-River Falls since Feb. 23, 2018 and the first two-game losing streak for the Pioneers since February of 2019.

Ben Probst (So./Madison, Wis.) knocked down 6-of-12 from three-point land, four in the second half, as the Pioneers finished 40.6 percent (26-of-64) from the field and 12-of-28 (42.9 percent) from three-point territory. UW-River Falls shot 53.1 percent (26-of-49) from the field with 9-of-18 (50 percent) from behind the arc.

The Pioneers fell behind early and trailed 26-15 with 6:31 left in the first half, but UW-Platteville went on a 17-5 run to close the half and lead 32-31 at the break. A three-pointer by Probst ignighted the run and the Pioneer added another before Quentin Shields (Sr./Chicago, Ill.) made 3-of-3 free throws after drawing the foul to take a 32-28 lead with less than a minute to go in the first half.

The teams exchanged seven lead changes in the first 12 minutes of the second half, but the Falcons took a 55-53 lead with a three-pointer by Jake Reek at the eight minute mark and would lead for the remainder of the game.

The Pioneers cut a 10-point deficit at the 2:48 mark to just one, 72-71, thanks to three consecutive three-pointers from Probst and a fourth by Kyle Tuma (Sr./Valders) at the 0:45 mark. With no timeouts left, the Pioneers were forced to draw the foul and the Falcons made it a three-point game after a trip to the foul line. The Pioneers had 11 seconds to set up one final shot in hopes to send the game into overtime, but UW-River Falls escaped the chance with a miss at the buzzer.

UW-River Falls went 13-of-17 (76.5 percent) from the foul line while the Pioneers finished 7-of-10 (70 percent). The Falcons outrebounded UW-Platteville 36-29.

Four Pioneers finished in double digits with Probst leading the way with 20. Tuma added 13, Shields 12, and Blake McCann (Sr./Janesville, Wis.) tallied 13 in his first game back from injury since mid-January.

Justin Stovall (Sr./Chicago, Ill.) had a team-high nine rebounds while Shields led the Pioneers with six assists.

Noah Hanson led the Falcons with a game-high 22 points.

UW-Platteville will return to action and Bo Ryan Court for Senior Day on Wednesday, Feb. 16 when they host UW-Eau Claire at 7 p.m.