Pioneers Win On The Road Against Augustana

ROCK ISLAND, Ill. – Behind a career night for junior Ben Probst, the University of Wisconsin-Platteville men's basketball team (3-2) won 81-73 on the road against Augustana (1-3) Tuesday night inside the Carver PE Center.

A pair of threes by Probst put the Pioneers ahead 6-0 in the opening minutes of the first half. The Vikings countered with an 8-0 run to take their first lead of the game before sophomore Julian Samuels knocked down a triple to end the run. Both teams traded buckets for the remainder of the half, with UW-Platteville holding a 34-31 advantage as sophomore Brady Olson connected on a three as time expired.

Augustana tied the game and took the lead early in the second half after making a couple of threes. Sophomore Carter Lancaster swung the lead back to the Pioneers with a three and junior Logan Pearson converted a three-point play to give UW-Platteville a 45-42 lead with just under 17 minutes to play. After some more back and forth play, the game sat even at 63 with less than five minutes remaining. Augustana took a five-point lead, but the Pioneers responded with a 10-point run, with seven points coming from Samuels, to take a 75-70 lead with 1:25 on the clock. UW-Platteville put the game away at the free throw line to win 81-73.

Probst led three Pioneers in double figures, scoring a career-high 30 points on 9-of-19 shooting, including 7-of-12 from three. Pearson added 19 points and seven rebounds on an efficient 7-of-11, while Samuels recorded 13 points off the bench. Senior Brad Nies grabbed a team-high nine rebounds. The Pioneers shot 49.2 percent (29-of-59) from the floor and 44.4 percent (12-of-27) from deep.

Five Vikings finished with double figures, with Dan Carr leading the way with 14 points while grabbing 12 rebounds. Augustana shot 50.0 percent (29-of-58) from the field and 38.5 percent (10-of-26) from beyond the arc.

The Pioneers return home on Saturday, Nov. 26 for a 3 p.m. tip-off against Illinois Tech.

*As with every UW-Platteville win this year, the Platteville A&W will be offering a $3 Pioneer burger the day after the win and the Platteville Taco John's will be offing 10 tacos for $10 the day after each Pioneer win.