Box Score

RIVER FALLS, Wis. (uwrfsports.com) - The UW- River Falls (14-9, 8-4 WIAC) offense came to life on Saturday afternoon via the three point shot and got an overtime victory over UW- Platteville 96-88 on Senior Night.

The men's team was 15-25 (60 percent) from downtown, and was led by sophomore guard Devin Buckley off the bench who scored 23 points and hit 5-6 from three point range.

In the first half, the Falcons honored their seniors by starting Jon Christensen, Jack Herum, Connor Goodwin, and Andrew Lau. Grant Erickson also started as the guard.
The game of runs began right as the game got underway with a quick 8-0 by UW- River Falls with Lau nailing a three pointer to start the game for the Falcons. After going up 12-4, UW- Platteville stormed back with 8-1 run and made the score 13-12 with 12:33 to go in the first half.

Both teams battled back and forth for the remainder of the first half with neither team leading by more than four points until at the halftime buzzer made it 34-34 going into the locker room. At the half, the Falcons had outrebounded the Pioneers 25-14, but had committed 12 turnovers to allow the Pioneers to stay in the game. Erickson led the Falcons in the first half with six points and six rebounds.

In the second half, the Pioneers exploded with a 13-1 run to open the second half and led by 12 points with 15:46 to go via three shots from beyond the arc, two by UW- Platteville's leading scorer Boston Johnson.

The three began to fly and Austin Moldenhauer came out of the timeout and nailed a three for the Falcons, then UW- Platteville went back up by 14 points with 13:18 to go, and Devin Buckley nailed a three to cut it to 11 with 13:18 to go. Moldenhauer on the very next possession sank another shot from downtown to trim the lead to 52-44 with 12:38 to go in the game.

With the first three shots from downtown, the Falcons would go on to score 18 straight points via the three point shot. Three of those coming from Buckley, two from Moldenhauer, and one from junior Garret Pearson. After this sequence of three pointers, the Falcons brought the game to 56-53 with the Pioneers in the lead.

After a basket and the foul by Christensen, the Falcons capped off a 21-6 run and tied the game 56-56 with 9:42 to go in the game.

The Pioneers took the lead right back with a jumper, then Buckley converted a four point play and gave the Falcons a 60-58 lead with 9:24 to go in the game. After the big run by UWRF, the teams exchanged the lead 10 times trading blows down the stretch.

With 2:17 to go in the game, UW- Platteville 75-74 when Christensen hit a three pointer in the corner to give UWRF a two point lead. The Pioneers responded with a three pointer of their own to take the lead right back. Christensen was clutch down the stretch and connected on and and-one and gave the Falcons a 80-78 lead with 1:18 to go.
UW- Platteville responded with a three pointer to snatch the lead right back with 59 seconds to go. After a free throw the Pioneers led by two. Buckley was fouled with 4.7 seconds to go, and nailed two clutch free throws to send the game into overtime.

In overtime, the Falcons scored the first four points with all coming from Pearson. After a layup by Platteville, Erickson stole the ball in the backcourt and hit a layup with 1:46 to go to give the Falcons a four point game.

The Falcons never trailed in overtime, and won the game capped off by a Pearson dunk to make the score 96-88.

Leading all scorers was Buckley with 23 points off the bench. Pearson was 9-16 on the night with 20 points and seven rebounds. Christensen scored 19 points on 5-14 shooting and had 12 rebounds, five of which were offensive. Erickson scored 11 points, snagged nine rebounds, and had seven assists in the victory.

The Falcons had 58 bench points in the victory, and had 20 points off second chance opportunities with 12 offensive rebounds. UWRF was 31-63 (49.2 percent) on the night and 19-24 (79.2 percent) from the charity stripe. The Falcons are now 2-0 in overtime games this season.

The Falcons have two remaining games this season, and are in a current second place tie in the WIAC with UW- Oshkosh. UWRF will finish the last two games on the road with the first coming on February 17 against UW- Stout with a tip time set for 7 p.m.