Pioneers Pull Away From Pointers In Home Win
PLATTEVILLE, Wis. – The fourth-ranked University of Wisconsin-Platteville men’s basketball team (19-2, 9-1 WIAC) pulled away down the stretch to beat UW-Stevens Point (15-6, 5-5 WIAC) 78-69 inside Williams Fieldhouse on Saturday night.
PLATTEVILLE, Wis. – The fourth-ranked University of Wisconsin-Platteville men's basketball team (19-2, 9-1 WIAC) pulled away down the stretch to beat UW-Stevens Point (15-6, 5-5 WIAC) 78-69 inside Williams Fieldhouse on Saturday night.
UW-Platteville got out to a slight four-point lead until a 15-1 run in favor of the Pointers flipped the score to 19-9 with just under 12 to go in the opening half. Seniors Ben Probst and Logan Pearson each knocked down threes to end the run, and the Pioneers continued to chip away at the deficit over the next several minutes. In the final minute of the half, sophomore Bristol Lewis connected on a three that helped UW-Platteville get within one at 35-34 heading into the break.
Probst proved to be a catalyst for the Pioneers offense early in the second half, as a pair of three-point makes saw the home team take a 44-41 lead with 13:21 remaining. The game went back and forth until a 10-3 UW-Platteville run saw the gap extend to 68-58 with 5:24 left. The Pioneers maintained a multi-possession lead for the remainder of the game, using strong free throw shooting to close out the 78-69 win.
Probst and Pearson each finished with a team-high 20 points, with both players scoring more than half their points in the second half. Probst scored 13 points across the final 20 minutes, going 4-of-7 from the floor and 3-of-5 from beyond the arc. Pearson netted 11 points in the second half, going 3-of-6 from the floor and a perfect 4-of-4 from the free throw line.
Junior Joey Fuhremann added 11 points on 4-of-5 shooting and shared the team lead in rebounds with six, matching the total of junior Max Love and senior Brady Olson. Lewis joined the trio in double figures with 10 points on 3-of-4 shooting.
The Pioneers shot 47.2 percent (25-of-53) from the floor and 40.0 percent (10-of-25) from beyond the arc. The three-point shooting greatly improved in the second half, as UW-Platteville went 6-of-11 (54.5%).
Free throw shooting helped decide the outcome of the contest, with the Pioneers finishing at 85.7 percent (18-of-21) compared to UW-Stevens Point's mark of 64.0% (16-of-25).
The Pointers shot 51.1% (24-of-47) for the game and 45.5% (5-of-11) from three-point range. Malik Abdul-Wahid led the team with 21 points, while Cal Krohn added 15 points.
UW-Platteville will hit the road on Wednesday night for a 7 p.m. tip-off against UW-Eau Claire.
*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.