Pioneers Clip Falcons Tuesday Night

PLATTEVILLE, Wis. – The University of Wisconsin-Platteville men's basketball team (6-5) held off a late rally to win 74-66 over Concordia Wisconsin (2-7) on Tuesday night on Bo Ryan Court.

The Pioneers offense started fast, scoring points on the first five possessions. Junior Logan Pearson opened the scoring with a layup and junior Ben Probst and sophomore Carter Lancaster each knocked down threes before senior Brad Nies scored four straight points to put UW-Platteville up 12-2 just three minutes in. Concordia Wisconsin answered with a nine-point run to cut the lead down to one and later tied the game at 14 on a three with just over 12 minutes to play in the half. The Pioneers pushed the lead back to eight with four straight buckets in the paint, and later led by 12 as the offense continued to find success inside. With two seconds remaining in the half, sophomore Brady Olson converted a second chance layup to put the Pioneers up 36-25 at the break.

Nies scored eight points in the first three minutes of the second half to put UW-Platteville up 44-29. The Pioneers maintained a double-digit lead for the first 10 minutes of the half, until the Falcons cut the lead down to four with 6:41 remaining. Freshman Miles Hettinger made a couple of huge threes to extend the advantage back to eight but four straight by Concordia Wisconsin made the lead just four with less than three minutes to play. Pearson scored a tough layup and then forced a turnover and found Olson for a breakaway layup to push the lead back to eight with a minute left. The Falcons knocked down a three in the closing seconds but the Pioneers won 74-66.

Nies led the team with 15 points on 5-of-7 shooting while Pearson added 12 points. The Pioneers were strong on the glass, outrebounding the Falcons 41-30 including 14-8 on the offensive glass. Pearson pulled down a career-high 14 rebounds to record the first double-double of his Pioneer career. Olson dished out a team-high six assists. UW-Platteville outscored Concordia Wisconsin in the paint 44-32. Overall, the Pioneers shot 47.5 percent (29-of-61) from the field.

The Falcons were led by 17 points by Jared Jurss while Grant Karsten (12 points) and Gabe Pruss (11) also reached double figures. Concordia Wisconsin shot 42.1 percent (24-of-57) in the game.

The Pioneers return to the court in two weeks when they travel to Las Vegas, Nevada, for the D3hoops Classic. UW-Platteville will play Concordia Moorehead on Thursday, December 29 before playing Frankling & Marshall the following day.

*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 offering 10 tacos for $10 the day after each Pioneer win.