Pioneers hit milestones in win
February 14, 2009
By Paul Erickson, UW-Platteville Sports Information
UW-Platteville won its 20th game for the first time since Bo Ryan patrolled the sidelines in 1998-99, and the current Pioneer Coach achieved a milestone, too.
Paul Combs won his 100th game as the Pioneer Coach, as UW-Platteville defeated UW-Superior 69-53 on the court named after Ryan, now the Wisconsin Badger coach.
Jeff Skemp scored 26 points, moving into ninth place on the career scoring list. He, Charlie Lohoff, Bo Richter and Kyle Tetschlag were saluted prior to the game on Senior Day. The foursome have played in a combined 402 Pioneer games.
"To think that five years has come down to today and what amounts to a short season left--and we still want to have a lot of basketball to play in front of us--the light at the end of tunnel is in sight," said Skemp, who now has 1,359 career points. "To have the support of the Platteville fans and the Platteville community, and especially the teammates and coaches means a lot."
The fourth-ranked Pioneers took a 27-14 halftime lead before Yellowjackets cut the margin to 31-25 at the half. The lead shrank to one at 45-44 before Lohoff's three-point basket began an 8-0 run. After Dan Culy's jumper brought UWS within 53-46, Skemp scored two free throws and assisted Nick Allen on a back-door cut, and the Pioneer led by double digits the rest of the way.
The Pioneers improved to 20-3 overall and 12-2 in the WIAC, while the Yellowjackets fell to 11-13, 4-11.
| UWP 20-Win Teams | ||
| Year | Record | Coach |
| 1957-58 | 21-3 | John Barth |
| 1973-74 | 21-4 | Dick Wadewitz |
| 1987-88 | 24-5 | Bo Ryan |
| 1988-89 | 24-5 | Bo Ryan |
| 1989-90 | 26-3 | Bo Ryan |
| 1990-91 | 28-3 | Bo Ryan |
| 1991-92 | 27-4 | Bo Ryan |
| 1992-93 | 24-4 | Bo Ryan |
| 1993-94 | 23-5 | Bo Ryan |
| 1994-95 | 31-0 | Bo Ryan |
| 1995-96 | 23-3 | Bo Ryan |
| 1996-97 | 24-3 | Bo Ryan |
| 1997-98 | 30-0 | Bo Ryan |
| 1998-99 | 30-2 | Bo Ryan |
| 2008-09 | 20-3 | Paul Combs |
Skemp made 11-16 from the field for his 26 points. Lohoff knocked down 5-7 shots for 13 points. The Pioneers shot 62.2 percent for the game, including 14-19 (73.7 percent) in the second half.
Dwight Hill scored 14 points, Culy 13 and Shane Manor 11 for the Yellowjackets.
Combs is now 100-53 in his six seasons as the Pioneer Coach. Counting his four years at Lakeland, he is 160-98.
"It would have been nice to get that for him at Whitewater Wednesday, but coach's second year was my first year here so we've been here together almost the whole time," said Skemp, who had a medical redshirt year in 2006-07. "On a personal level, I'm glad he got his 100th win while I was here."
The 2008-09 team is the 15th in school history to reach 20 wins and the first since the 30-2 national championship club of 1998-99.
"Twice in my career we got to 19, and we didn't have it get to that 20th win," Skemp said. "To get 20 feels good. Now we need to get a couple more wins down the stretch for the NCAA committee. We're still playing for a conference championship, and hopefully 20 wins get us where we want to go."
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