PLATTEVILLE, Wis.- UW-Platteville seized control with a pivotal second-half scoring run and defeated UW-Oshkosh, 79-72, during the first round of the WIAC Men's Basketball Tournament (presented by Culver's) on Tuesday (Feb. 24) in Platteville.
 
Clinging to a 59-57 lead with 8:10 to play, fourth-seeded Platteville went on an 11-3 scoring run over a nearly five-minute stretch to extend its cushion to 70-60. Fifth-seeded Oshkosh never got closer than six points after Kaden MacKenzie's three-point play provided the Pioneers with a 66-59 advantage at the 5:57 mark in a matchup pitting the Titans' WIAC-leading scoring offense (82.7 point per game) and Platteville's league-leading scoring defense (68.2).
 
With the win, Platteville (18-8) advances to play Thursday (Feb. 26) in the WIAC semifinal round at top-seeded UW-Whitewater (19-6). Thursday's other WIAC semifinal will feature second-seeded UW-Stevens Point (19-6) hosting third-seeded UW-La Crosse (20-6), which earned an 87-83 home win over sixth-seeded UW-Stout (9-17) on Tuesday. The semifinal winners will meet Saturday (Feb. 28) for right to play for the WIAC's automatic berth into the NCAA Division III Championship.
 
UW-Oshkosh (17-9) will await results around country to see whether it receives one of 21 at-large berths into the 64-team national tournament. The Titans entered Tuesday in the 17th at-large position.
 
Max Lucey led four Platteville double-digit scorers with 16 points. Bristol Lewis and Max Love added 13 points apiece for the Pioneers while Joey Fuhremann added 11 points to go along with a game-high nine rebounds.
 
Carter Thomas (Neenah/Neenah) paced all players with a season-high 26 points for Oshkosh, which also received 25 points from Michael Metcalf-Grassman (Shawano/Waukesha/Shawano Community). Thomas upped his career total to 999 points after going 8-for-17 from the field and 7-for-8 at the free throw line. Metcalf-Grassman shot 10-for-18 from the floor, and Nate Nazos (Batavia, Ill./Batavia) grabbed a team-best seven rebounds.
 
Platteville, which improved to 12-1 at home on the year, shot 50.8 percent (30-59) from the field, 23.8 percent (5-21) from beyond the 3-point arc and 66.7 percent (14-21) at the foul line. The Pioneers held advantages of 7-14 in turnovers, 9-4 in steals and 5-1 in blocks.
 
Oshkosh went 24-for-56 (42.9 percent) from the floor, 9-for-28 (32.1 percent) from 3-point range and 15-for-24 (62.5 percent) while owning edges of 36-33 in rebounds and 13-11 in assists.
 
The Pioneers, who had lost each of their previous four meetings with Oshkosh in the WIAC Tournament, also slipped past the Titans by a 76-75 score February 4 in Platteville. The Titans won the first matchup between the teams this season, 86-76, in Oshkosh on January 14.
 
The teams exchanged the lead six times during the first half. A Nazos 3-pointer gave Oshkosh a 19-18 edge with 9:00 left in the opening period, but Lucey drilled a 3-pointer of his own nearly a minute later to put the Pioneers back on top, 21-19. Platteville maintained a lead for the remainder of the opening half after a Miles Hettinger layup gave the Pioneers a 23-21 lead with 6:47 until intermission.
 
Platteville led by as many as seven points on two occasions during the first half before heading into halftime with a 39-34 cushion.
 
A Thomas 3-pointer gave Oshkosh its first lead in more than 12 minutes at 48-46 with 12:54 remaining. However, Platteville answered with the next six points and did not trail after Fuhremann's layup put the Pioneers ahead, 50-48, at the 12:18 mark.
 
Three-pointers by Thomas and Joey LaChapell (Appleton/Appleton East), who led all players with six assists, pulled the Titans within one point at 52-51 and 56-55, respectively, but Lewis ignited Platteville's crucial 11-3 scoring run with a layup for a 63-59 advantage with 7:10 to go. The Pioneers went on to lead by as many as 10 points on three occasions the rest of the way, including at 79-69 following a Lucey free throw with 10 seconds remaining.
 
Fifth-seeded teams have not won a WIAC Tournament game since 2017.