In another long series of games with national significance between these schools, fifth-ranked UW-Platteville defeated seventh-ranked UW-Whitewater 86-78 at Williams Fieldhouse in Platteville, Wisconsin Wednesday night.

box score

Platteville led 43-32 on a free throw by Eric Wall with 1:01 left in the first half, and still led by nine, 43-34 at halftime.  Whitewater was 4-5 from three point range in the first half, but UW-P topped that, hitting 6-7.

Whitewater outscored UW-P 11-5 to start the second half to cut the margin to 48-45 with Billy Kolinske (Waukesha/Catholic Memorial) hitting a pair of free throws at 17:03.  Platteville's lead stayed in single digits until Curt Hanson hit a three at 5:04 to put Platteville up 72-61.  Whitewater came right back on a 9-0 streak, with six of those coming on a pair of Matt Goodwin (Milwaukee/King) three-pointers, to close the margin to 72-70 at 3:32.  Platteville turned the tables and used a 9-0 run of their own to get to the largest lead of the game, 85-73 with 0:31 left. 

Just as in the first half, three point shooting played a key role.  The Pioneers were 9-19 from beyond the arc, Whitewater was 6-14. 

Both teams had balanced scoring, with five players apiece in double figures.  Platteville center Jeff Skemp led all scorers with 24 points.  He was followed by Pioneer teammates Hanson with 21, Nick Allen with 12, Charlie Lohoff with 11 and Mike Shaw 10.  Hanson and Lohoff had seven assists each, and Shaw led UW-P with five rebounds. 

Whitewater was topped by senior guard Myles McKay (Menomonee Falls/Menomonee Falls)'s 22 points, and well as his team-high six rebounds.  Also scoring in double figures were Kori Vernon (Madison/Memorial) with 16, Kolinske with 14, and Dustin Mitchell (Lac Du Flambeau/Lakeland) and Goodwin with 11 points each. 

UW-Whitewater is 14-3 overall and 6-2 in the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference.  UW-P is 15-2 overall and 7-1 in the WIAC.

UW-Whitewater will host UW-Superior Saturday, January 24 at 5:00 in the Kachel Gym of Williams Center.

For additional information:  Pat Miller, UW-W coach