Cyclones Earn Conference Honors

Travis Puyleart (Green Bay Preble) and Korey Jagiello (New London) have been named to the WCC-East All-Conference 1st Team for 2011-2012, while head coach Lee Rabas earned his 3rd Coach of the Year award.  The two sophomores and their coach helped lead UW-Fox to a second straight conference championship this past season, a 22-3 overall record, and a berth in the WCC Tournament semi-finals.

Puyleart averaged 13.4 points and 5 rebounds per game in WCC-East play.  He shot 35% from three-point range, and turned into a top perimeter defender.  He hit clutch shots in a 21 point effort at UW-Waukesha to seal at least a tie for the conference title, and had a career night with 38 points (13/21 shooting, 7/12 from three) to earn the title outright in beating UW-Sheboygan.

Jagiello was one of the conferences most consistent post players on both offense and defense.  He averaged 13.4 points on 61% field goal shooting, pulled down 6.8 rebounds per game, and drew 15 charges on defense.  He recorded 3 double-doubles in WCC-East play.

Rabas was named the WCC-East coach of the year for the third time in 3 years.  He helped guide the Cyclones to a second WCC-East conference championship and 22-3 overall record.  During his three seasons at the helm of the UW-Fox program the Cyclones have posted a 70-10 overall record, and a 32-4 conference record.

Cyclones Fall in WCC Semi-Final

(February 25, 2012) Wausau, WI -

The UW-Fox men's basketball team came up short in its bid to repeat as WCC Tournament champions, falling to UW-Richland 70-67 on Saturday at UW-Marathon in the tournament semi-finals.  In a game that saw 24 lead changes and 11 ties, the Road Runners made the last few plays to earn the victory over the Cyclones.

Travis Puyleart, who led the Cyclones with 21 points, connected on a 3-point play to give the Cyclones a 67-66 lead with under a minute to play.  However, on their next possession, UW-Richland guard Ervin Johnson recovered his own errant pass in a loose ball scramble, and converted a lay-up to give the Road Runners a 1 point lead.  Johnson would force a turnover on the Cyclones next possession and convert it into a lay-up with 0:12 seconds remaining, for a 70-67 UW-Richland lead.  

UW-Fox would get two shots to tie the game in the last 0:12 seconds, but neither would fall.  The Cyclones struggled shooting most of the game, converting only 10 of 31 three-point attempts.

Despite committing 12 first half turnovers, and giving up 10 offensive rebounds, the Cyclones led at the half 35-34.  UW-Fox would take much better care of the ball in the second half, and only give up 1 offensive rebound, but their shooting woes would prove to be too much to overcome.  The Cyclones shot 34% in the second half, and only 37% for the game. 

With the loss the Cyclones end the season 22-3 overall.  Despite the tournament loss the Cyclones still claimed another regular season conference championship.  The back to back titles are a first in school history, as is the third consecutive 20 win season.

2012 WCC Men's Basketball Tournament Summary

2012 Wisconsin Collegiate Conference (WCC)

MEN'S BASKETBALL TOURNAMENT RESULTS

Saturday February 18, 2012 (1st Round)

#5 UW-Sheboygan 70 at #4 UW-Marinette 65

#6 UW-Washington 81 at #3 UW-Manitowoc 68

#7 UW-Fond du Lac 72 at #2 UW-Waukesha 101

#5 UW-Rock 62 at #4 UW-Baraboo 57

#6 UW-Barron 68 at #6 UW-Marshfield 74

Wednesday February 22, 2012 (Quarterfinals)

#5 UW-Sheboygan 68 at #1 UW-Fox Valley 74

#3 UW-Manitowoc 70 at #2 UW-Waukesha 77

#5 UW-Rock 54 at #1 UW-Marathon 59

#3 UW-Marshfield 73 at #2 UW-Richland 74

Saturday February 25, 2012 (Semi-finals hosted by:  UW-Marathon)

UW-Fox Valley 67 Vs. UW-Richland 70

UW-Waukesha 82 Vs. UW-Marathon 71

Sunday February 26, 2012 (Championship)

UW-Waukesha 74 Vs. UW-Richland 68 (OT)

2012 WCC All-Tournament Team

Travis Puyleart..........UW-Fox Valley

Otis Brown................UW-Richland

Will Reiche................UW-Marathon

Carl Robinson...........UW-Waukesha

Chris Prushiek..........UW-Waukesha

Cyclones Advance In 2012 WCC Tournament

(February 22, 2012)

The UW-Fox men’s basketball team battled back from an early 12 point deficit on Wednesday night to post a 74-68 win over UW-Sheboygan in a WCC Tournament quarterfinal game.  With the win the Cyclones advance to the tournaments final four, which will be held in Wausau at UW-Marathon beginning on Saturday.

Alex Nelson’s 3 pointer in transition gave the Wombats an early 22-10 lead.  Chris Searl, seeing his first action off the bench since dislocating his knee on January 28th, sparked the Cyclone offense with two assists culminating in UW-Fox lay-ups.  Those lay-ups started a Cyclone run that would see them take a 32-31 lead on a Travis Puyleart 3-point play with 4:18 left in the first half.  UW-Sheboygan countered with a run of their own to take a 38-36 halftime lead.

In the 2nd half the Cyclones got a lift off the bench from guard Adam Kaminske, who scored 14 points on the night, hitting all 5 shots he attempted.  His 3-pointer with 10:33 remaining gave UW-Fox a lead it wouldn’t relinquish, and a little later his 3 point play  would push the lead to 5 with under 8 minutes to play.  

Perhaps even bigger was the job he did defensively on reining WCC player of the year Tim Schwoerer, who scored 22 points in the first half.  Kaminske helped hold him to only 2 points in the second half, which was key to the Cyclones win.

Travis Puyleart led the Cyclones with 21 points and 7 rebounds.  Korey Jagiello and Tanner Hackl provided a nice one two scoring punch in the post.  Jagiello finished with 16 points and 7 rebounds and Hackl 10 points and 7 rebounds.  Trevor Smith handed out 3 assists and recorded 0 turnovers in 35 plus minutes of action.  All 5 of his points came in the games final minutes, including a driving lay-up with the shot clock inside of 5 seconds, and 3 free-throws in the final minute.

The UW-Fox men will play UW-Richland in a WCC Tournament semi-final game on Saturday night in Wausau at UW-Marathon.  Tip-off is set for 6pm.

Story on UW-Fox Athletics Web Page

Post-Crescent story on win over UW-Sheboygan

UW-Fox Downs UW-Manitowoc

(February 13, 2012)

In their regular season finale on Monday night the UW-Fox men jumped out to a 41-23 halftime lead, and held on in the second half for a 74-57 win over UW-Manitowoc.  With the win the UW-Fox men finish the regular season 21-2 overall, 11-1 in the WCC-East.  The win ended a grueling 8 day stretch that saw the Cyclones play 4 games, including 3 on the road.

Post-Crescent Article on victory over UW-Manitowoc

Cyclones Beat UW-Marshfield

(February 11, 2012)

On Saturday the UW-Fox men's basketball team (20-2, 10-1) defeated UW-Marshfield 64-58 at Marshfield.

The Cyclones knocked down five three-point field goals in the second half, and got 18 points after intermission from Travis Puyleart, to help key the victory.

The Cyclones held UW-Marshfield to 2/18 shooting from 3-point range (11%) and 32% field goal shooting overall.

UW-Fox finished 17/22 (77%) from the free-throw line, with Puyleart connecting on all 8 of his second half attempts.

The host Marauders had four players in double figures, but the visiting Cyclones, got 26 points from Puyleart.

Korey Jagiello and Trevor Smith also chipped in with 8 points each.

The 2012 WCC-East champion Cyclones return to action on Monday night.

The Cyclones travel to UW-Manitowoc for a 7:30pm tip-off.

Cyclones Defeat UW-Marshfield

Cyclones Clinch Outright Title

(February 8, 2012)

The UW-Fox men clinched the 2011-2012 WCC-East Division championship all for themselves on Wednesday night with a 88-74 victory over UW-Sheboygan.  It was an emotional night for UW-Fox head coach Lee Rabas, whose mom passed away in the early hours of Tuesday morning February 7th.  The Cyclones rallied around their coach to earn the win and give UW-Fox the first back to back conference championships in men's basketball history.

Travis Puyleart led the way for UW-Fox with 38 points and 7 rebounds.  He hit 7 of his 12 three-point attempts on the night.

UW-Fox Holds On To Beat Huskies

(February 1, 2012)
The UW-Fox men's basketball team held on to beat UW-Marathon 66-59 on Wednesday night.  With the win the Cyclones move to 18-1 on the season.

Cyclones Earn Thrilling Overtime Victory

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.