Basketball teams often talk about how no one comes into their gym and wins. In the case of the UW-Platteville men’s basketball team, no one has come to Bo Ryan Court in the Williams Fieldhouse and escaped with a win. The latest team to fall victim to UW-P is UW-Stout, who lost their WIAC conference matchup on Jan. 26, 77-68. This win came on the heels of a huge conference victory over UW-Whitewater that helped propel the Pioneers into a tie for first place in the WIAC.

Against the Warhawks, the Pioneers were led by junior center Jeff Skemp’s career best 30 points as they beat the No. six-ranked team in the country. It improved the Pioneers record against the other top teams in the conference to 2-1 and matched their away win at UW-Oshkosh.

Skemp’s big game paced the Pioneers who fed off of the first 30 point game by a Pioneer in three seasons. This topped his previous career high of 23 points. Also scoring big for the Pioneers were sophomore guard Curt Hanson who added 12 points and Josh Langenfeld poured in 11 more points in a great team effort.

The key to the game was the Pioneers’ ability to hit big shots whenever the Warhawks got back into striking distance. Shooting a blazing 53 percent for the game, Platteville was able to distance themselves from their conference rivals. The Pioneers hot shooting carried on into the weekend when they faced off against Stout in another conference showdown.

UW-P came into the game with Stout tied for first place in the conference along with three other teams and they certainly proved their mettle. Junior guard Charlie Lohoff and sophomore guard Hanson used their outside shooting to help the Pioneers to a big conference win. Their combined 48 points helped the Pioneers get out to a large lead and never look back.

Leading 40-22 at the half the Pioneers coasted to a victory that was never in doubt. A strong defensive effort helped set the stage for a conference battle with UW-Oshkosh on Jan 30 at the Williams Fieldhouse. Both teams are tied for first place in the conference along with UW-W with WIAC conference tournament seedings along with conference supremacy on the line.

After their game with the Titans, the Pioneers will hit the road for a game at UW-River Falls on Feb. 2. With just six regular season games left until the start of the WIAC conference tournament, the Pioneers look to be hitting their stride at the right time.