La Crosse, Wis. - The University of Wisconsin-La Crosse men's basketball team fell, 78-73, to UW-Oshkosh Saturday night in Mitchell Hall. The Eagles drop to 13-4 overall and 4-2 in the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (WIAC) while the Titans improve to 12-5 overall and 5-1 in the conference.
UWL, ranked 15th on D3hoops.com, raced out to a 12-5 lead with 15:25 remaining in the first half on a
Torin Hannah layup. UW-Oshkosh later cut the margin to 15-9, but back-to-back jumpers from Hannah and
Austin Westra gave UWL a 19-9 advantage with 12:09 left.
Austin Westra totaled 17 points in Saturday's game.
Trailing 25-15, the Titans used a 8-0 run to cut the lead to 25-23 on a Eric Peterson layup with 7:43 remaining in the first half. The Eagles responded with a 14-5 run to take a 39-28 lead with 3:23 left on a
Jake Gross' three-point field goal. Hunter Plamann's three-pointer for UW-Oshkosh with 2:50 left cut the lead to 39-31, but
JJ Paider's layup (1:28 left) and Hannah's three-point field goal (:07) gave UWL a 44-31 halftime lead.
Westra's jumper to open the second half gave UWL a 46-31 lead, its largest lead of the contest. UW-Oshkosh cut it to 46-41 with a 10-0 run, but UWL scored the next seven points to lead 53-41 with 12:44 remaining. Westra connected on a layup with 8:49 left to give the Eagles a 58-50 lead, but the Titans went on an 11-2 run to take a 61-60 lead on Plamann's three-point field goal with 4:35 left. Hannah's jumper regained the lead for UWL with 3:29 remaining. After Quinn Steckbauer made a pair of free throws with 3:12 left to give the Titans a one-point lead,
Craig Steele hit a three-pointer with 2:54 remaining to give the Eagles a 65-63 lead.
Plamann made back-to-back three-pointers for UW-Oshkosh and 69-65 lead. Levi Brochert's layup after a UWL turnover gave UW-Oshkosh a 71-65 lead with 1:26 left. The Titans made one-of-two free throws for a 72-65 lead, but Steele cut it to 72-68 with a three-pointer and :34 remaining. Steckbauer made two free throws for a 74-68 lead with :30 left when Hannah connected on a three-pointer with :23 remaining to cut the deficit to 74-71. Steckbauer's layup made it 76-71 and Hannah's layup cut the lead to 76-73 with :04 remaining. Steckbauer converted two free throws with :03 left for the final margin.
JJ Paider had seven points and nine rebounds.
UWL shot 46.0% from the field Saturday, including 45.8% (11-of-24) from three-point range, and 80.0% (four-of-five) at the free throw line. Hannah led the Eagles with 19 points off the bench, going eight-of-13 from the field, including three-of-five from three-point range. He added six rebounds, three steals and two assists. Westra totaled 17 points while Steele finished with 11. Paider had seven points and team-high nine rebounds.
Will Fuhrmann finished with nine points and three assists.
UW-Oshkosh shot 46.2% from the field, including 50.0% (12-of-24) from three-point range. The Titans shot 56.0% (14-of-25) from the field in the second half, including 75.0% (six-of-eight) from three-point range. UW-Oshkosh shot 72.0% (18-of-25) at the free throw line for the game. Steckbauer led the Titans with 30 points while Plamann finished with 22 and Borchert 11. Peterson had a game-high 10 rebounds.
UWL returns to action Wednesday, January 17 at UW-River Falls at 7 p.m.
