News Release

River Falls, Wis. — Mark James' short jump shot off a rebound as time expired put an end to a fierce UW-Oshkosh comeback and lifted the UW-River Falls men's basketball team to a 58-56 victory over the Titans on Saturday in River Falls.

UW-Oshkosh (15-5/8-3 WIAC), which also lost to UW-Stout on a basket as time expired on Dec. 10, trailed 40-29 to UW-River Falls (5-14/4-7 WIAC) with 17:15 left in the contest before rallying to take a 56-50 advantage with 3:36 to play. Unfortunately, UW-Oshkosh's 56th point on a basket by Chad Doedens would be the last that the Titans would score the rest of the game.

UW-River Falls ended the contest with eight straight points, cutting its deficit to 56-52 on a basket by Ryan Zylstra with 3:18 remaining in the game and 56-54 on a basket by Ryan Thompson with 2:35 to play. Following three missed shots by the Titans and one by the Falcons, UW-River Falls tied the game at 56-56 on Hans Hoeg's two free throws with six seconds left in the contest.

The game's final six seconds had plenty of activity as UW-River Falls' Tim Pearson stole UW-Oshkosh's inbound pass near midcourt and then threw the basketball to teammate Ryan Thompson who launched a three-point shot that misfired and was collected and put back in the basket by James as time expired. Jame's game-winning shot represented his only two points of the game.

In the first half, UW-River Falls and UW-Oshkosh exchanged baskets for the first 13 minutes, with the Falcons holding their largest lead of four twice. With 6:30 left in the opening period, Hoeg scored on a back door cut to give UW-River Falls a 17-16 lead, starting an eventual 16-2 scoring run that would give the Falcons a 31-18 advantage with 1:58 remaining in the half. The stanza ended with the Falcons holding a 33-22 lead.

Andy Jahnke led UW-Oshkosh in scoring with 22 points, including 18 in the second half on six three-point baskets. The Titans also received nine points from Doedens and eight from Jim Capelle. UW-Oshkosh's Nathan Wesener collected 10 rebounds to tie a career best, while Doedens dished off six assists.

Hoeg scored 21 points to lead UW-River Falls, while Zylstra added 13 and Thompson nine. Thompson also contributed five assists, three rebounds and one steal for the Falcons.

UW-Oshkosh shot just 39.3 percent (24-61) from the field, including 33.3 (8-24) behind the three-point line. The Titans, who shot 211 free throws in their previous nine games, did not attempt a free throw against the Falcons. It was only the second time in 449 games that UW-Oshkosh attempted less than five free throws in a contest.

UW-River Falls shot 50 percent (24-48) from the field to become the first opponent to shoot 50 percent or better against UW-Oshkosh in 14 games. The Falcons also shot 50 percent (7-14) behind the three-point line and 75 percent (3-4) from the free throw stripe.

UW-Oshkosh, which entered the contest ranked 21st in the NCAA Division III by D3hoops.com, had its nine-game winning streak snapped with its loss to the Falcons. UW-Oshkosh's previous loss was a 65-57 setback to 13th-ranked Wartburg College (Iowa) on Dec. 22.