January 30, 2012 (Waukesha, WI)
In a game played at an extremely high level by both teams, the UW-Fox men’s basketball team gutted out a hard fought 79-75 overtime victory at UW-Waukesha on Monday night. The win guarantees the Cyclones of a number one seed in the East bracket of the WCC tournament, and a share of the WCC-East conference championship. The repeat conference title is a first in the history of men’s basketball (the Cyclones won the WCC-East conference title last year).
Despite shooting 46% (6/13) from 3-point range in the first half, the Cyclones found themselves down 42-34 at the break. UW-Waukesha beat up UW-Fox inside in the first half. Cougar post Josh Gierhahn was almost flawless recording 15 points and 6 rebounds.
The Cougar lead would swell to 13 on several occasions in the second half. However, each time the Cyclones would battle back. A Korey Jagiello basket with 10:11 remaining cut the UW-Waukesha lead to 59-49. From there the Cyclones would close the gap and eventually take a 64-63 lead on a Travis Puyleart 3-point field goal with just over 4 minutes remaining.
Down 66-68 with just over a minute left, Puyleart came off a flare screen and buried a triple from the left wing to give UW-Fox a 69-68 lead. After a defensive stop, Puyleart was fouled and made 2 free-throws to extend the lead to 71-68. But, then it was the Cougars turn for some heroics.
Cougar sharpshooter Matt Vraney, who was limited by an ankle injury, came off the bench to hit an off balance fade away 3 with 0:12 seconds left to tie the game at 71. It was Vraney’s first shot of the game, after having not played until that point in the second half. UW-Fox would turn the ball over on its next possession, but clamped down on defense and did not allow UW-Waukesha to get off a shot in the final :03 seconds.
In overtime the Cyclones got early stops on defense and never found themselves down. With 1:04 left Adam Kaminske nailed a deep 3-point shot in front of the Cyclone bench to break a 75-75 tie and give UW-Fox a 78-75 lead.
The Cyclones would get consecutive stops on defense, but were not able to convert at the free-throw line, giving the Cougars life. Korey Jagiello came up with an offensive rebound off of a missed free-throw with :06 seconds left in OT. He stepped to the free-throw line and made the first of two sealing the 79-75 victory for UW-Fox.
The Cyclones shot 50% (13/26) from 3-point range, and pulled down 12 second half offensive rebounds, 19 total for the game. Despite allowing the Cougars to shoot 56% on 2-point field goals, UW-Fox held UW-Waukesha to just 3/16 shooting from 3-point range. They also limited the host Cougars to just 7 offensive rebounds in the second half and overtime.
Puyleart led UW-Fox with 21 points and 6 rebounds, after being held to just 3 points in the first half. Jagiello added 13 points, and Kaminske 12 points and 5 rebounds for the Cyclones. Trevor Smith scored 8 points, grabbed 5 rebounds, and had 2 assists in 39 minutes of play. He and Kaminske recorded 0 turnovers in almost 61 minutes of play between the two.
The Cyclones return to action on Wednesday night when they host UW-Marathon. Tip-off is set for 7:30pm at the UW-Fox Fieldhouse.
