The UW-Oshkosh men’s basketball team was defeated by UW-Platteville 79-72 on Tuesday, Feb. 24 at Bo Ryan Court at Williams Fieldhouse in the first round of the WIAC Tournament.
Carter Thomas scored a career-high 26 points by shooting 8-for-17 from the field. Thomas has also reached 999 career points. He was followed in points by Michael Metcalf-Grassman, scoring 25 points, shooting 10-for-18.
The Titans shot 24-for-56 (42.9%) from the floor, 9-for-28 (32.1%) from 3-point range and 15-for-24 (62.5%) from the line.
Platteville shot 30-for-59 (50.8%) from the field, 5-for-21 (23.8%) from beyond the 3-point arc and 14-of-21 (66.7%) at the foul line.
The Pioneers had four double digit scorers in Max Lucey with 16 points, Bristol Lewis and Max Love both with 13 points and Joey Fuhremann with 11 points.
Oshkosh and Platteville traded the lead six times when Nate Nazos gave the Titans the lead with nine minutes left in the first half. But a minute later, the Pioneers regained the lead with a three making the score 21-19. UWP kept the lead going after a layup by Miles Hettinger and maintained a lead throughout the end of the half 39-34.
Thomas scored a three, giving UWO a lead of 48-46 with more than 12 minutes remaining. Platteville responded by scoring six points in 30 seconds giving them the lead at 50-48. The Titans had 3-pointers from Thomas and Joey LaChapell, who led the game in assists with six, put the Titans within one at 76-75. But the Pioneers had other plans, going on a 11-3 run, making the score 63-59.
UWP continued to dominate, leading by 10 or more points during the final half of the game and ended with Platteville shooting free throws with ten seconds left.
The Titans following this loss have been knocked out of contention for the NCAA Division III Tournament. UWO shined in the WIAC by leading in assists, steals and three pointers made. Oshkosh also had the highest point average in the WIAC with 82.3. UWO has played more aggressively on pass ins leading to high steals. and since UWO makes so many threes, they’re bound to have a high scoring average.
However, the high production on offense does not help with their defense. UWO had the highest point average with teams averaging 78 points against them, worst in the WIAC.
While the season is over, Oshkosh overall has improved on many fronts from the previous season. They won four more games than the previous season and improved their offensive stats significantly. Hopefully the jump this year will give UW-Oshkosh men’s basketball to look forward to next season.
