First half spurt pushes Pioneers over Blue Devils

UW-Platteville 86, UW-Stout 69

PLATTEVILLE (January 27, 2018) - UW-Platteville used a big spurt in the first half to push past UW-Stout and the Blue Devils could not catch up as the Pioneers took an 86-69 win Saturday on Bo Ryan Court.

Stout (7-12, 1-7 WIAC) jumped out to an early 6-0 lead as Sam Ortmann and Joe Duty hit back-to-back 3-pointers. The Pioneers tied the game at 8-8 and Peyton Fulkerson gave Stout a two point lead. 

Platteville (16-3, 6-2 WIAC) off on a 21-0 run to take a 29-10 lead midway through the first half. The Pioneers took advantage of hot shooting, hitting 67.9 percent of their first half, scoring 19 of 28 shots from the floor and finished the night shooting 56.9 percent (33-58).

The Blue Devils rebounded a bit in the second half. Stout shot 31 percent (9-29) in the first half, but improved to 45.2 percent (14-31) in the second half.

Platteville's Robert Duax led all scorers with 19 points and Trey Sigel chipped in 16 points. 

Stout had three players score in double figures. Duty dropped in a team-high 16 points and Ortmann scored 13. Josh Mericle came off the bench to score a career-best 11 points and five rebounds in 11 minutes of play.

The Blue Devils will be at UW-Eau Claire, Wednesday, Jan. 31 and return home for Alumni Day, Saturday, Feb. 3 when they host UW-Whitewater at 3 p.m.