RIVER FALLS, Wis. – The UW-River Falls men's basketball knocked off No. 5-ranked UW-Platteville 74-71 during Alumni & Senior Night Saturday at Page Arena.
It was the first UWRF victory over UW-Platteville since Jan. 25, 2020, also an Alumni Game at Page Arena.
UWRF shot 13-of-24 from the field and 9-of-18 from beyond the arc while outrebounding the Pioneers 36-29.
In the first half, the Falcons held UWP to under 40 percent shooting from the field and overcame an early 7-0 deficit to lead by as many as 11 after jumpers from
Rodrick Payne and
Noah Hanson.
After trailing 26-15 with 6:31 on the clock, the visiting Pioneers went on a 17-5 run to close out the first half leading 32-31.
The Falcons shot 7-of-11 from three-point range in the second half, along with a 10-of-14 mark at the charity stripe en route to the upset victory.
Seven lead changes led to an exciting second half, and after a
Jake Reeck triple with eight minutes left in regulation gave UWRF a 55-53 lead, they led for the remainder of the contest. A fastbreak layup from Hanson put the Falcons up by 13 with under five minutes left in regulation, but UWP made it interesting with clutch three-pointers down the stretch.
After a Platteville three-pointer trimmed the Falcon lead to 72-71 with under a minute left on the game clock,
Marshall Holland pulled in a critical offensive rebound after a Falcon missed shot and
Bryce Phillips drew a foul. He sank both free throws to give UWRF the 74-71 triumph.
Hanson led the Falcons with a game-high 22 points off 7-of-13 shooting from the field. Reeck added 15 points off the bench and Payne collected a game-high 10 rebounds. Phillips had nine assists and Holland had three steals.
UW-River Falls, now 12-9 overall and 5-7 in the WIAC, closes out the regular season on Wednesday, Feb. 16 at UW-Stevens Point.
