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| Bo Ryan Court has been particularly friendly to UW-Platteville over the past week and a half. UW-Platteville athletics file photo |
UW-Platteville won its third consecutive home game against a ranked team, Christopher Newport and Western New England each survived last-second shot attempts at home, Scranton had a huge second half and La Crosse's free-fall continued in Saturday's Division III men's basketball action.
UW-Platteville defeated its third Top 25 team in 10 days as the No. 19 Pioneers knocked off No. 11 UW-Stevens Point 63-61 on Saturday. All three of those wins for Platteville have come at home, sandwiched around an 86-76 loss at No. 20 UW-Oshkosh on Wednesday night. UW-Platteville missed two foul shots which could have sealed the game with 31 seconds left in regulation, but Max Love got a steal on the other end, leading to two free throws by Bristol Lewis to give the Pioneers a 63-59 lead with 8.0 seconds to play. Carter Combs hit a putback for UW-Stevens Point with three-tenths of a second left to cut the lead to two, and Platteville was able to inbounds the clock and let time expire on the win. Lewis finished with a team-high 22 points, shooting 8-for-14 from the floor and 4-for-6 from three-point range.
The free-fall continues for UW-La Crosse, as the No. 18 Eagles lost their fourth consecutive game, dropping Saturday's contest 77-74 at UW-Eau Claire. J.J. Paider had 29 points and 13 rebounds, and Sam Grieger added 21 points, but Eau Claire was able to hold on after allowing La Crosse to come all the way back from a 19-point second half deficit. The Eagles (11-5, 1-4 WIAC) went from 51-32 down to a 60-60 tie with 7:34 left in the game after Dustin DeRousseau hit a three-pointer. The Eagles tied it again at 62 and at 64, but could not get over the top, as Kenji Scales answered with a three and La Crosse went 2-for-6 from the floor the rest of the way. Carter Lichtsinn hit a key three for UW-EC (13-3, 2-3) and Eau Claire went 5-for-6 from the foul line to seal the win. Scales and Andre Renta each scored 17 to lead the Blugolds, who had five scorers in double figures.
Joshua Joe threw up an off-balance shot at the buzzer but could not get it to fall as East Texas Baptist's upset bid fell one shot short in a 61-59 loss at No. 17 Christopher Newport. Neither team led by more than seven points all afternoon as the game between American Southwest Conference and Coast 2 Coast Conference, a rarity in January, defied expectations as ETBU (5-13) was able to hang with the Captains (15-3) all the way to the final buzzer. Zyir Baskerville led the Captains with 16 points, while Collin Hines went for 10 in the win. Michael Roberts led the Tigers with 17. CNU missed two of four foul shots in the final minute-plus to ensure ETBU had a chance to tie or take the lead on its final possession. As part of the same event, Mary Hardin-Baylor (13-5) edged Salisbury 64-60, with Zach Engels accounting for a double-double with 15 points and 11 boards. The Sea Gulls fell to 10-8 on the season.
Scranton scored just 19 points in the first half, but exploded for 52 in the second to defend home court against No. 23 Catholic in a 71-68 win. Jon Spatola went 9-for-10 from the line down the stretch and scored 11 of the final 12 for Scranton to secure the victory. The Royals improved to 14-1, for their best start since the 1992-93 season, which Scranton went 27-1 under coach Bob Bessoir before losing to Rowan in the Elite 8 to end their season. Brendan Carr led the way for Scranton with a game-high 20 points, shooting 5-for-7 from three-point range while the rest of the team went 2-for-11. Spatola finished with 17.
Otterbein won its ninth consecutive game as the Cardinals defeated Muskingum on the road, 78-62. The Cardinals improved to 14-2 overall and 6-1 in the Ohio Athletic Conference, remaining one game behind Mount Union in the conference standings. After the Muskies (12-4, 4-3) closed the gap to make it a six point game, the Cardinals struck for another big run with Reece Huber playing a big part on both ends of the floor. Midway through the second half, Otterbein held a comfortable 20-point lead. Dominic Theado's impressive season continued, scoring 15 points, going 3-of-4 from beyond the arc.
Tim Reidy registered a team-best 21 points and Jack Bleier established a new career-high with 17 as No. 24 WPI overcame a sluggish start and roared back to defeat visiting MIT 77-66. The Engineers remain tied atop the conference standings as co-leader Salve Regina won 94-60 at home against Coast Guard. Babson, which defeated Emerson 61-52, remains a game back at 4-2 but Clark was knocked off 68-66 at Wheaton and is now two games off the lead at 4-3. MIT slips to 5-10 overall and 1-5 in league action. As a team, the hosts shot 17-for-19 (89.5%) from the charity stripe and only turned the ball over nine times.
Zevi Samet became Yeshiva's all-time leading scorer, and that's a super elevated place to be, as he scored 23 points, shooting 5-for-7 from three-point range, in a 95-75 win against St. Joseph's (Bklyn.). That gives him 2,163 points for his career, pushing him past three-time D3hoops.com first team All-America selection Ryan Turell on the Macs' all-time list.
Jared Townsley scored a game-high 20 points as Nebraska Wesleyan handed Loras its first conference loss, defeating the Duhawks 82-74 in an American Rivers Conference game in Lincoln, Nebraska. The Prairie Wolves blew the game open in the second half with a 15-3 run, sparked by a three-pointer by Christian Winn which gave NWU (11-5, 6-1 ARC) the lead for good with a little over 10 minutes to play. The long-range jumper was part of seven consecutive points for the junior guard, which served as the majority of his 13 points on the afternoon. Loras fell to 13-4, 7-1.
Vassar took over sole possession of first place in the Liberty League with a 76-74 win at Union. The Dutchmen spotted Vassar a 24-8 lead early at home, then battled back to tie the game at 74 with 13 seconds remaining. Shea Fitzgerald responded with a fallaway 10-footer for the win, and after two missed foul shots with 1.2 seconds left, Union eventually controlled the rebound but ran out of time for one of its buzzer-beaters. Fitzgerald led the victorious Brewers (10-3, 6-0 Liberty League) with 28 points, while Parker Neuenhaus added 23. Jack Plesser had 30 points and 13 rebounds for Union, which fell to 12-3, 7-1 in the LL.
In a big Centennial Conference matchup, Franklin & Marshall topped Johns Hopkins 68-54. The Bluejays could not stop the Diplomats on the inside; F&M shot 52% from the floor and got 36 points in the paint, while JHU shot just 32% from the floor. The Blue Jays opened the second half with a Jeb Williams three that was directly countered by a triple from Vakaris Grauslys. Williams answered with another three on their next possession to stay within two points at 35-33. F&M followed this with four points over the next two possessions. While the Blue Jays stopped this short run with two free throws, the Diplomats followed this with a six-point run that included back-to-back jump shots from Kevin Nowoswiat to get F&M to a double-digit lead for the first time at 45-35 with 14:30 remaining. The Diplomats (13-2, 2-1 Centennial) led by eight or more the rest of the way. JHU fell to 11-4, 2-1.
Western New England needed a last second shot to get past one-win Wentworth on Saturday, as the Golden Bears survived, 63-61. They did so when Matt Houde hit a stepback three-pointer with 1.5 seconds left. WNEU led for most of the second half before Russell Dolabany was fouled with 12.0 seconds left and hit both free throws to give the Leopards (1-14, 1-7 Conference of New England) a 61-60 lead. Dolabany finished with a game-high 26 points, but Avery Mickens, Travis Mangual and Houde each scored in double figures for the Golden Bears, who improved to 11-4, 5-2.
Aurora shot 68% from the floor and 11-for-21 from three-point range as the Spartans rolled past MSOE 114-74 in a battle of teams tied for second place in the Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference. St. Norbert leads the lead at 12-4, 9-0 in conference, winning at last-place Dominican on Saturday. Eighteen players got into the game for Aurora (13-3, 8-1) and 13 of them scored, led by Devon Richardson's 23 points and Mekhi Doby adding 21. MSOE fell to 9-7, 7-2.
Maryville continued its run atop the CCS standings in its final season in the conference, knocking Belhaven out of second place with a 92–76 victory. With the Scots (14-4, 5-0) up by 16 at the half, Belhaven attempted to claw back after halftime, briefly stringing together a 10-point run, but Maryville responded. Chase Morgan took control offensively, consistently finishing through contact and getting to the free-throw line, while Matthew Schneider, Jaylon Green, and Javi Rosell helped steady the Scots. The Blazers (9-8, 3-1) never cut the deficit below seven, and Maryville pulled away late to secure the 16-point win.