DIII title eludes Titans
SALEM, Va. - UW-Oshkosh’s first trip to the national championship game didn’t end well Saturday night.
The Titans’ Ben Boots looked like he would be the hero, hitting a pair of three-pointers to tie the game, 72-72, with 2:52 left, but Jack Hiller nailed a three-pointer 30 seconds later to give Nebraska Wesleyan a lead it would keep as the Titans fell, 78-72, in the NCAA Division III title game at the Salem Civic Center.
It was the first national title in basketball for the Prairie Wolves, who finished as runners-up in 1997.
Boots finished with 24 points to lead the Titans, while Charlie Noone ended his college career with 14 points. Boots was named to the alltournament team, along with Brett Wittchow, who had 12 points Saturday.
Nebraska Wesleyan (30-3) finished its season with 13 consecutive wins, including a 130-97 win over topranked Whitman in the Elite Eight.
The Titans led with less than 14 minutes remaining in the game, but a 15-3 run by Nebraska Wesleyan over a five-minute span was a differencemaker, putting the Wolves up 10.
Oshkosh fought back behind 12 points from Boots, but it could never get the lead back in ending the season 25-8.
The Titans kept trying to pull away in the first half but couldn’t shake the Prairie Wolves. After going in front, 30-22, on David Vlotho’s three-pointer, the Titans saw Nebraska Wesleyan score the next seven points to get within one.
Then the Titans got a pair of threes from Boots and another from Vlotho — giving him a season-high nine points at the 3:39 mark of the first half — and Oshkosh built its lead back to six.
On Friday night, Titans coach Pat Juckem was happy with how his team closed the first half, scoring the final five points to lead Ramapo by seven at the break. But he said his team had struggled in previous tournament games at the end of the opening 20 minutes.
The old habits came back to haunt the Titans on Saturday. Nebraska Wesleyan finished the half on a 12-4 run, including scoring the final six points to lead by two at halftime.
Cooper Cook, who was named the tournament’s Most Outstanding Player, had 16 points Saturday to lead Nebraska Wesleyan. Nate Schimonitz finished with 15 points and six assists, and Ryan Garver and Deion WellsRoss scored 11 apiece.
The Prairie Wolves finished 14 of 22 from behind the arc and shot 52% overall. They concluded the tournament with a record 73 made threepointers in six games.