When UW-Platteville senior Brett Stangel hit a jumper to cut a deficit to host UW-River Falls to two points with 58 seconds to play, the host Falcons scored the next six points en route to a 61-53 win in men's basketball action on Saturday.

The Pioneers trailed for most of the contest and in the second half, UW-Platteville senior Matt Weik tied the game at 44 to culminate a 14-2 run with a 3 pointer at the 8:13 mark. It was the first tie of the contest and the Pioneers would get no closer and the Falcons scored six of the next eight points en route to the win.

UW-Platteville (11-9, 5-6 WIAC) was led by the 14-point effort from Rob Stallion, plus Stangel and Matt Weik finished with 12 and 11 points, respectively for the Pioneers.

UW-River Falls (15-5, 9-2 WIAC) was led by Shane Manor, who had a game-high 18 points. He was joined in double figures by Wade Guerin, who finished with 13.

In the loss, the Pioneers came back from 11-point deficits on three occasions but failed to make a free throw in the loss. UW-Platteville was held to 44.4% shooting from the field as UW-River Falls shot at a 45.1% clip.

Next up for the Pioneers is a contest on Wednesday, February 1st against UW-Stevens Point at 7 p.m.