Jack Flynn matched his season high with 20 points on 9-for-9 shooting from the field to lead the nationally ranked UW-Oshkosh men's basketball team to a 92-56 rout of Calvin College (Mich.) behind a spectacular first-half shooting display Saturday (Dec. 8) in Kolf Sports Center.
UW-Oshkosh (7-1), ranked seventh in the NCAA Division III by D3hoops.com, made its first eight shots from the field and both free throw attempts on the way to building a 21-7 lead with 15:28 left in the opening half. The Titans, who took the lead for good at 5-3 on a 3-pointer by Brett Wittchow 48 seconds into the game, went on to make 16 of their first 20 field goal attempts for a 42-20 advantage at the 7:20 mark.
The Titans owned a 53-31 advantage at intermission and led by at least 20 points for the final 27:54 of the contest.
Flynn's nine field goals in one game without a miss are the most in program history. He finished one made basket shy of joining 15 other WIAC players who have ever produced games with 10 or more field goals without a miss. Flynn went 6-for-6 from the floor in the first half and 3-for-3 during the second before exiting with just under eight minutes remaining.
Wittchow and Ben Boots both added 14 points for the Titans, who also received a career-high 12 points from Jake Zeitler and 10 from Adam Fravert as UW-Oshkosh had five double-digit scorers for the second time this season. Fravert collected a team-leading seven rebounds while Boots dished out a game-high five assists. Boots and Zeitler combined to shoot 8-for-11 from 3-point range, including a 4-for-5 effort from Zeitler in nine minutes played off the bench.
UW-Oshkosh ended the game shooting a season-best 56.3 percent (36-64) from the floor, including a 65.6 rate (21-32) during the first half. The Titans hit a season-high 15 3-pointers on 33 attempts (45.5 percent) while making 5 of 7 shots (71.4 percent) from the free throw line. UW-Oshkosh, which has topped 90 points each of the past three games and averages 86.6 points per contest, also compiled advantages Saturday in rebounds (36-29), assists (22-7), turnovers (7-11) and blocks (4-3).
Calvin College (4-5), which suffered its largest loss since at least the 1995-96 season, scored its fewest, and allowed its most, points of the season.
The Knights shot 39 percent (23-59) from the field, 20 percent (3-15) from 3-point range and 77.8 percent (7-9) at the foul line. Calvin College was held to its lowest rebound and assist totals of the year while tying season-low totals in made field goals and made 3-pointers.
Calvin College entered Saturday ranked third in the country with a .806 free throw percentage, sixth with 10 turnovers committed per game and 17th with a 1.45 assist-to-turnover ratio.
UW-Oshkosh, which advanced to last season's Division III title game, went into the Saturday ranked eighth nationally with a 1.56 assist-to-turnover ratio, ninth with 10.4 turnovers committed per contest and 18th with a +18.1 average scoring margin.
The Titans opened the game with an alley-oop dunk from Wittchow to Fravert just 13 seconds into the contest. UW-Oshkosh's string of eight consecutive made field goals continued with Wittchow's 3-pointer that provided the Titans their final lead and a Wittchow layup. Flynn then scored three straight baskets in the paint ahead of back-to-back 3-pointers by Wittchow and Boots in the span of 23 seconds that increased the Titan advantage to 21-7 less than five minutes into the contest.
A layup from Flynn culminated UW-Oshkosh's 16-for-20 shooting start over the first 15 minutes, which included a pair of 3-pointers by Eric Peterson. The Titans led by as many as 25 points on two occasions during the first half as a three-point play from David Vlotho gave UW-Oshkosh a 47-22 advantage with 4:22 left in the opening period and a Wittchow layup upped the lead to 51-26 at the 1:28 mark.
UW-Oshkosh owned its largest lead of 41 points at 92-51 following a 3-pointer by Sam Ebersold with 2:36 remaining.
Calvin College's Derrick DeVries led all players with 21 points. Thad Shymanski added 10 points for the Knights.
UW-Oshkosh has won its past three meetings with the two-time national champion Knights, including a 77-74 decision last season at Calvin College and a 73-52 victory in Oshkosh during the 2016-17 campaign. Calvin College claimed Division III titles in 1992 and 2000.
The Titans play Lawrence University on Friday (Dec. 14) in Appleton.
Photo courtesy of Steve Frommell, D3Photography.com