UWO men’s basketball moves on to Elite Eight

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Katie Pulvermacher / Advance-Titan — UW Oshkosh’s Levi Borchert (30) hands the ball off to Cole Booth (11) against Hope College March 4.

Jacob Link, Co-Sports Editor

Senior guard Will Mahoney scored a game-high 22 points as the UW Oshkosh men’s basketball team cruised to a 91-72 victory over Rowan University March 10, sending the Titans to the Elite Eight of the NCAA tournament.

UWO advanced to their fourth Elite Eight in program history, with their last appearance in the Division III quarterfinal coming in 2019 when the Titans went on to be crowned national champion.

Mahoney went 4-for-8 from behind the arc and grabbed eight rebounds while Hunter Plamann finished with 16 points, on 4-of-7 shooting from 3-point land. Guard Cole Booth continued UWO’s hot shooting from behind the arc, converting on four 3-pointers and finishing with 14 points.

 Quinn Steckbauer scored 13 points for the Titans and senior forward Levi Borchert finished with nine points. UWO outshot Rowan 52%-48% from the floor and forced 12 Profs turnovers.

For Rowan, guard Ja’Zere Noel had a team-high 20 points and six rebounds while forward Andrew Seager scored 16 points.

UWO scored the first five points of the game, and a 3-pointer from Steckbauer put the Titans up 8-4 with under 17 minutes to play in the first half. A few minutes later, Steckbauer drained another 3-pointer but after a timeout, Rowan went on a 9-2 run to tie the game at 13. Mahoney hit a 3-pointer with under 12 minutes to go in the half, jump starting a 10-0 to give the Titans a 22-13 lead. Oshkosh shot 54% from behind the arc in the first half and increased their advantage to 13 points late in the period after a Borchert layup. Noel, who scored 14 points in the first half, hit back-to-back jumpers to help the Profs end the half on an 8-0 scoring run, cutting the UWO lead to five points at the break.

Rowan started the second half 9-for-9 from the floor to cut the Oshkosh lead to two points with just under 15 minutes to play in the game. The two teams traded baskets for the next five minutes until a Mahoney 3-pointer kickstarted an 11-0 run to give UWO a 12-point advantage. The Titans went on to maintain a double-digit lead for most of the second half, and a Borchert layup put Oshkosh up 15 points with under five minutes to play. Plamann hit a 3-pointer with under a minute to go, giving the Titans their largest lead of the game and UWO cruised to a 19-point victory.

The Titans will take on either Mount Union or North Park at 6:45 p.m. March 11 in Alliance, Ohio. You can view the game live at https://oac.boxcast.com/#/channels/2xVZaQz1i7Fjio54gLvb.