RIVER FALLS, Wis.- UW-Oshkosh men's basketball scored 17 consecutive points during a five-minute span in the second half on the way to securing a 62-53 comeback victory at UW-River Falls on Saturday (Feb. 7).
 
Oshkosh (15-6, 6-4 WIAC) trailed, 42-35, with 7:57 remaining before Oskar Kangas (Iron Mountain, Mich./Iron Mountain) sparked a string of 17 unanswered points that culminated in a 51-42 Titan lead following a Joey LaChapell (Appleton/Appleton East) layup at the 2:55 mark. The Falcons never got closer than five points the rest of the way as the Titans went 11-for-12 from the free throw line during the final 2:05.
 
The Titans' decisive 17-0 scoring run featured five different scorers, including Jonah Rindfleisch (Milwaukee/Wisconsin Lutheran) with five points and Michael Metcalf-Grassman (Shawano/Waukesha/Shawano Community) with four. The five-minute stretch saw the Falcons miss nine straight shots from the field and commit a pair of turnovers.
 
Oshkosh, which snapped a three-game losing streak, remains tied for second in the league standings – one game behind UW-Stevens Point (17-4, 7-3 WIAC) – while River Falls (7-14, 2-8) stays in eighth with four games left. The Titans swept the season series with River Falls, downing the Falcons, 104-86, on January 17 in Oshkosh.
 
LaChapell and Metcalf-Grassman led all players with 15 points apiece for Oshkosh. Metcalf-Grassman added six rebounds, a career-best four blocks and a career high-tying three steals. LaChapell, the active NCAA leader in career free throw percentage at .939, went 6-for-7 at the charity stripe Saturday.
 
Rindfleisch was 3-for-3 from the floor and made both of his free throw attempts en route to scoring nine points and collecting five rebounds. Kangas and Aiden Hawkinson (Waupun/Waupun) combined for 12 points off the Oshkosh bench, which also received a team-leading seven rebounds in 14 minutes from Tristan Johanknecht (Oshkosh/Oshkosh West).
 
Owen Havlik and Reid Tengblad both had 11 points to lead River Falls. Falcons leading scorer Jack Leifker was limited to two points on 1-for-13 shooting from the floor.
 
Oshkosh, the highest scoring team in the WIAC, shot 33.3 percent (16-48) from the field, 18.5 percent (5-27) from 3-point range and 71.4 percent (25-35) at the free throw line, including 21-for-29 during the second half. The Titans owned advantages of 44-36 in rebounds, 9-8 in steals and 5-3 in blocks.
 
River Falls went 20-for-65 (30.8 percent) from the floor, 6-for-21 (28.6 percent) from beyond the 3-point arc and 7-for-12 (58.3 percent) at the foul line. The Falcons, who were held to their lowest field goal percentage of the season, had edges of 13-7 in assists and 14-15 in turnovers.
 
The Falcons led by as many as nine points on two occasions during the first half and went into intermission with a 30-24 lead. A pair of Gavin Rolph extended the River Falls cushion to 42-35 with just under eight minutes left.
 
However, Oshkosh's fateful 17-point surge ensued as two Hawkinson free throws knotted the score at 42 and a Metcalf-Grassman make at the foul line with 5:30 to go provided the Titans a 43-42 advantage they would not relinquish. Trailing 46-42, River Falls missed three field goal attempts on its next trip down the floor. Rindfleisch then drilled a 3-pointer that pushed the Titan lead to 49-42 ahead of LaChapell's layup that capped the 17-0 run 40 seconds later.
 
The Titans return home Wednesday (Feb. 11) to host UW-Eau Claire at 7 p.m. Oshkosh defeated the Blugolds, 79-73, in Eau Claire on January 21.