Pioneers Begin Conference Play With Win Over Blugolds

EAU CLAIRE, Wis. – The 19th-ranked University of Wisconsin-Platteville men's basketball team (10-2, 1-0 WIAC) held off a late run by UW-Eau Claire (7-5, 0-1 WIAC) to win 74-69 in the WIAC opener on Wednesday night inside the W.L. Zorn Arena in Eau Claire.

The Pioneers held a one-point lead midway through the first half until a 10-point run extended the advantage to 29-18 with 7:11 left until the break. Sophomore Max Love and senior Ben Probst each made threes during the run, and sophomore Gavin Ralph capped the stretch with a jumper from the paint. After a Blugolds basket, Love made two more triples to make it 35-20 in favor of the Pioneers, and a three by junior Brady Olson pushed the lead to a game-high 16 at 42-26 with 1:32 until halftime. UW-Eau Claire scored the final eight points of the half to trail 42-34 after 20 minutes of play.

The Blugolds quickly cut the deficit down to four out of halftime, but the Pioneers slowly increased the lead back to double digits at 65-55 on buckets by senior Logan Pearson and Love. UW-Platteville held a 10-point advantage with 2:32 remaining, but a seven-point run by UW-Eau Claire made it a one possession game with just 11 seconds on the clock. Pearson made both of his free throws with six seconds left, and the Blugolds missed the ensuing jumper as the Pioneers hung on for a 74-69 win.

UW-Platteville shot 46.7 percent (28-of-60) from the floor in the win, including 44.0 percent (11-of-25) from beyond the arc. In just the first half, the Pioneers shot above 50 percent from the floor and went 9-of-16 (56.3 percent) from deep.

Pearson led all scorers with 25 points while adding nine rebounds and four assists. The senior went 9-of-19 from the field and made six of the seven Pioneer free throws.

Love joined Pearson in double figures with 19 points on 7-of-12 shooting. He went 5-of-9 from three-point range as one of two Pioneers to make multiple threes in the game along with Prosbt (3-of-7).

The Pioneers will play the conference home opener on Saturday evening at 7 p.m. when UW-River Falls comes to town for Alumni Day.