News Release

Oshkosh, Wis. — Jim Capelle scored the last seven points of the contest as the UW-Oshkosh men's basketball team won a hard-fought 55-49 contest over UW-River Falls on Saturday in Kolf Sports Center.

UW-Oshkosh (12-4/5-2 WIAC) trailed 49-48 before Capelle put the Titans ahead to stay on a layup with 2:40 to play. Following two errant shots by each team in the closing minutes, UW-River Falls' Eric Kossoris tipped in a missed shot by teammate Ryan Thompson with five seconds left to give the Falcons an apparent 51-50 lead. But, Kossoris was ruled by the officials as being over the back on the play and the basket was nullified. Capelle made two free throws due to the foul, and after a pair of UW-River Falls technical fouls, sank three more to give the Titans the six-point victory.

UW-River Falls (3-12/2-5) counted the first seven points of the second half to tie the game at 25-25 with 15:52 to play. Following an 8-2 scoring run that put UW-Oshkosh ahead 33-27, UW-River Falls bounced back to force a 33-33 tie with 11:23 left. The two teams went on to register six more tied scores, including 48-48 with 3:27 remaining.

The first half belonged to UW-Oshkosh as the Titans jumped out to an 8-1 lead after five minutes of play. UW-Oshkosh increased its lead to 20-9 at the 5:03 mark of the opening period before UW-River Falls rallied back to slice its deficit to 25-18 at intermission.

Kerry Gibson tallied his first double-double of the season as he scored 15 points and grabbed a career-best 12 rebounds. Gibson drained seven of his eight free throw attempts while recording three steals and blocking three shots. Capelle finished the game with 10 points, including nine in the last 4:08 of the contest.

Hans Hoeg led UW-River Falls in scoring with 15 points, while Ryan Zylstra added 10. The Falcons also received a team-best seven rebounds from Alex Maas.

Both teams struggled shooting the basketball from the field as UW-Oshkosh made only 15 of its 48 shots (31.3 percent) and UW-River Falls only 13 of its 42 (31.0 percent). Behind the three-point line, UW-Oshkosh shot only 20.0 percent (4-20) and UW-River Falls just 6.7 (1-15).

The two combatants excelled shooting the basketball at the free throw line as UW-Oshkosh made 21 of its 24 tosses (87.5 percent) and UW-River Falls 22 of its 28 attempts (78.6 percent).

UW-Oshkosh posted a 33-32 rebounding edge in a game that featured 38 turnovers and 46 fouls.