OSHKOSH, Wis.- UW-Oshkosh men's basketball erased a 19-point second-half deficit and outlasted UW-La Crosse, 121-115, in an overtime thriller between two nationally ranked WIAC rivals Wednesday (Jan. 7) in Kolf Sports Center.
 
Oshkosh (11-2, 2-0 WIAC), ranked 21st in the D3hoops.com poll, faced a 57-38 deficit less than a minute into the second half. However, the Titans reclaimed their first lead since the first two minutes of the game at 79-77 with 7:32 left in regulation and extended the cushion to 96-89 at the 1:47 mark, 98-91 with 48 seconds remaining in regulation and 100-93 with 38 ticks left.
 
Sixth-ranked La Crosse (11-2, 1-1 WIAC), trailing 100-96 with under 20 seconds left, got a Sam Grieger 3-point play to pull within a point. Oshkosh's Joey LaChapell (Appleton/Appleton East), who finished the game 11-of-11 at the free throw line, then made a pair at the charity stripe. But Grieger, who scored a school-record 46 points in defeat, answered with a 3-pointer with 1.1 seconds to go and send the game to overtime.
 
The Titans never trailed during the extra period after a Brandon Beck (Rockton, Ill./Hillcrest Prep (Ariz.)) layup for a 104-102 advantage on the opening possession. Clinging to a 108-107 edge, Oshkosh got a layup from Oskar Kangas (Iron Mountain, Mich./Iron Mountain) with 1:57 left before LaChapell, the active NCAA leader in career free throw percentage, accounted for each of the Titans' last 11 points over the final 73 seconds, including seven at the foul line, to preserve the upset victory in the highest scoring game between the teams since at least the 1975-76 season.
 
The 121 points were Oshkosh's most in its 500 games since a 123-105 home victory over Grinnell College (Iowa) on Jan. 4, 2007.
 
LaChapell tied his career high with 29 points, shooting 9-for-11 from the field to go along with his 11 made free throws and four assists. LaChapell is now 126-of-135 at the free throw line for an NCAA-leading .933 percentage during his two seasons with the Titans.
 
The Titans featured five double-digit scorers, including Michael Metcalf-Grassman (Shawano/Waukesha/Shawano Community) with a season-best 26 points, Jonah Rindfleisch (Milwaukee/Wisconsin Lutheran) with a season-high 13 in his 100th career game played, Kangas with a career-best 12 and Beck with 11.
 
Nate Nazos (Batavia, Ill./Batavia) and Carter Thomas (Neenah/Neenah) added nine points apiece for an Oshkosh team that reached 100 points for the second time this season, matching its most triple-digit scoring efforts since also accomplishing the feat twice during the 2018-19 campaign en route to winning the Division III title.
 
Grieger, the WIAC leading scorer, went 16-of-28 from the floor, 4-for-7 from 3-point range and 10-of-12 at the free throw line on the way to eclipsing the previous La Crosse single-game scoring record of 43 points set in 1995.
 
Dustin Derousseau added 18 points for the Eagles, who also received 15 points from Carson Bauer, and 14 points and 12 rebounds from JJ Paider.
 
Oshkosh concluded the contest shooting 53.2 percent (41-of-77) from the field, 35.5 percent (11-of-31) from 3-point range and 62.2 percent (28-of-45) at the free throw line while owning advantages of 19-11 in assists, 7-12 in turnovers, 10-5 in steals and 2-1 in blocks.
 
The Titans, who made at least 11 3-pointers for the 11th time in 13 games on the year, went into the night ranked third in the division with 12.2 made 3s per contest while also pacing the conference in per-game assists, blocks, steals, turnovers forced, and turnover margin.

La Crosse went 38-of-75 (.507) from the floor, 10-of-23 (.435) from beyond the 3-point arc and 29-of-45 (.644) at the foul line while holding a 47-41 rebounding edge.
 
The Eagles, who had their four-game winning streak in the series with the Titans snapped, entered the game eighth in the country by committing just 9.4 turnovers per contest.

La Crosse took a 7-6 lead following a Derousseau dunk with 18:06 to go in the opening period and did not trail again until late in the second period. The Eagles went into intermission with a 52-38 lead as Grieger had 21 points during the first 20 minutes.

A Paider basket in the paint provided the Eagles their largest lead of 19 points at 57-38 with 19:17 left in regulation, but the Titans pulled within 74-71 on a Matt Imig (Ashwaubenon/Ashwaubenon) 3-pointer with at the 10:45 mark and completely erased the 19-point deficit when a LaChapell jumper knotted the score at 77 with 7:50 left. Nazos then gave Oshkosh its first lead in more than 30 minutes at 79-77.
 
Thomas' 3-pointer gave the Titans an 86-83 advantage at the 4:22 mark of regulation, and Oshkosh maintained the lead until Grieger's late 3-pointer that sent the game into an extra stanza.
 
The Titans will travel to Stevens Point to take on the No. 14 Pointers Saturday (Jan. 10) at 5 p.m. Since first meeting in 1899, UW-Stevens Point holds a 128-98 all-time record against UW-Oshkosh and finished last season with a 76-75 win, however the Titans hold an 8-2 record in the last 10 matchups.