UWO basketball season skids to a stop

Jonathon Samp, Staff Writer
March 10, 2021

Katie Pulvermacher / Advance-Titan Despite losing to UWL in the WIAC semifinals, UWO led the conference in scoring (80.3 points), 3-point percentage (41.8%), 3-point percentage defense (29.4%), assists per game (13.71), defensive rebounds per game (30.29) and 3-point field goals made per game (10.57).

The UW Oshkosh men’s basketball team season came to an end on March 3 after losing to UW- La Crosse by a score 75-72 in the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (WIAC) semifinal.

The Titans came into the game winning their last five games and their first playoff game against UW-Stout. This game was a different story. UWL was hungry to get back into the WIAC championship, as all of the WIAC teams were, and they showed it last Wednesday.

UWL came out in the first half shooting 54.8% from the floor, and the Titans could only match that with a 36% field goal percentage. This allowed the Eagles to get out to a 10-point lead heading into halftime.

During the second half, the Titans came back to life, as they increased their shooting percentage of 40.6% and they managed to post 44 points on the board to the Eagles’ 37 points.

The Titans managed to get it to a tie the game at 56-56 with 9:43 in the second half after an Eddie Muench 3-point basket. The Titans finally did take the lead with 2:01 left in the game after Hunter Plamann sank a huge 3-pointer, but unfortunately that lead did not last long as the Eagle’s Wyatt Cook matched Plamann’s 3 just 13 seconds later to tie the game at 70-70.

The score remained tied for over a minute, and with 27 seconds the Eagles’ Wyatt Cook’s made a layup to break the tie. That was seemingly the dagger UWL needed to secure the win as they added on 3 more points to get to a score of 75, and UWO’s Levi Borchert was the only Titan able to score in the final seconds getting the score to 72.

The Titans finished the season with an overall record of 5-2. They were undefeated at home with a 3-0 record, and they were .500 on the road going 2-2. As a team, the Titans shot 49% from the field on the season and averaged 80.3 points per game.

Although this was not the end the Titans and their fans were looking for, the team competed in every game, win or loss. The Titans are a young team with leadership from Borchert and Will Mahoney, and the sky’s the limit for them with hope of an NCAA Tournament happening next season.