Hearts were broken amongst the Pioneer faithful at King Arena March 6 as they watched Wheaton College’s Jeremy Pflederer hit a lay up with five seconds remaining in overtime, bringing the UW-Platteville’s men’s basketball team’s NCAA run to a halt with a 74-69 loss.

On the previous night, the Pioneers demolished the Flying Dutchmen of Hope College in the opening round of play, 83-59.

Photograph by Kate Olsen

“We played a really good team tonight,” Hope’s head coach Glen Van Wieren said. “They can do damage. Everything we thought we did successful, they found a way to not make us successful.”

The Dutchmen took an early lead over UW-P, but the score continued to go back and forth between the two teams.

The Pioneer offense kicked into gear with 3-pointers by junior Curt Hanson and sophomore Nick Allen to expand UW-P’s lead. UW-P went into the locker room with a 38-22 lead.
The Pioneer offense continued to burn up the court in the second half, taking a 50-29 on a layup from Hanson. A pair of 3-pointers from junior guard Mike Shaw made it a 61-38 game. Shaw made all 17 of his points in the second half, including four from behind the arc.

“The guys told me they still had confidence in me,” Shaw said. “I was having mental lapses and the team kept telling me they believed in me and needed my help to win this game.”

A layup by junior forward Reid Gibbs gave the Pioneers an 83-56 lead over the Dutchmen with 1:49 left to play. The Pioneers defeated Hope College with a final score of 83-59.

“It feels good to get the first one under the belt; we played a good team,” senior guard Charlie Lohoff said. “We can’t think about this one for too long.”

The Pioneers had four players reach double figures in scoring. Hanson led the way with 20 points followed by senior center Jeff Skemp with 18 and Shaw with 17. Lohoff dished out a team high eight assists.

The Pioneers didn’t get to celebrate their first victory too long for they faced the third-ranked team in country on their home court the next night.

King Arena was jam packed with blue and orange for the NCAA tournament showdown between two of the top five teams in the country, No. 5 UW-P against the No. 3 Wheaton Thunder in what turned out to be a tournament instant classic.

“This was an unbelievable environment with a great college atmosphere,” Combs said.

Richter hit a layup to give UW-P a 10-6 lead early in the first half. The Thunder fought back, tying the game up 14-14. The two teams fought back and forth with Wheaton having the upper hand going into the locker room with a 27-24 lead over the Pioneers.

Fouls on the Pioneers at the beginning of the second half gave Wheaton’s offense a chance to build up a 31-26 lead. The Thunder’s offense continued to shine throughout the second half bringing frustration to the Pioneers. A dunk by Skemp helped close in on Wheaton’s lead, 47-45.

The Thunder built their lead up to 54-45. A 3-pointer from Shaw and a pair of free throws from Lohoff cut the lead back down 54-52 before Wheaton stormed back to go up 62-56.

With 1:20 left on the clock and the Pioneers still down by six, it looked as though the dancing was done for UW-P. A steal by Wall led to a 3-point basket by Hanson and another steal from Hanson resulted in a layup from Lohoff to put the Pioneers back into the game with 25 seconds left on the clock and down by just one point.

A missed free throw from Wheaton and a layup by Skemp sent the game into overtime with a score of 63-63.

UW-P took a 65-64 lead with 2:38 left in overtime, but Wheaton made it a 72-69 game with 19 seconds left. The Thunder crowd grew loud as the Pioneer fans watched in silence as the clock hit zero with their journey ending with a 74-69 loss.

“We were ready for this game. It feels great to be here,” Hanson said. “It wasn’t just a goal to be here, but to advance.”

The Pioneers were led by Skemp with a career high 38 points in his final collegiate basketball game, followed by Hanson with 10.

Skemp earned co-MVP of the WIAC as well as first team honors. According to the Sports Information Web site, Skemp is the first since Merrill Brunson in 1998-99 to earn league MVP honors.

“I was pleased with Jeff’s efforts,” Combs said. “He is a very special player to watch.”

The Pioneers finished the season with a 23-6 record.