The Pioneers triumphed over the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse Eagles with a 64-61 win on senior night, Feb. 18 at Bo Ryan Court, during the final home game of the regular season.
The game started out with the team’s five seniors: Jake Manning, Jim Stocki, Wes Nemitz, Steve Scharc, and Collin Macomber.
The senior squad struggled early against the Eagles as they took a 7-0 lead in the first four minutes of the game.
Manning, who passed 1,000 career points, continuously put shots up and was rewarded six minutes in when he made a layup off a dish from junior forward Cory Vaassen, which put the Pioneers on the scoreboard.
Manning finished with a double-double as he netted 25 points and grabbed 10 boards, while shooting 10-16 from the field.
When asked about reaching his 1,000-point mark, Manning discussed how it meant more to get a win as a team for the seniors.
“It’s nice to get a win on senior night, it was a big moment for us,” Manning said.
A combination of freshman Matt Oestreich and junior Boston Johnson’s driving to the hoop brought the score to 11-7 with 14 minutes left of the half.
The Pioneers stayed neck and neck with the Eagles and finally got the lead 32-31 as the first half came to an end.
Coming back from halftime, the Eagles took the lead back quickly, but it was not long until Manning got a jump shot, bringing the score to 34-33, Pioneers.
The Pioneers spread the ball well in the second half, and put Stocki, Vaassen, and junior guard Trevor Wittwer on the scoreboard.
With five minutes left in the game, Wittwer made an impressive steal which led to Nemitz making a three-point jump shot, with the assist going to Johnson, making the game tied at 53.
With 42 seconds left in the game and the score at 60-59, the teams began trading timeouts, trying to gather a game plan for the last few minutes.
Oestreich brought the score to 62-59 with only 21 seconds left in the game with a pair of free throws.
The crowd stood up and began to cheer with six seconds left in the game as the Eagles called their final 20-second timeout with the score sitting at 62-61, Pioneers.
Manning was the final player to score with a pair of free throws at six seconds to end the Pioneers’ final home regular season game with a 64-61 victory.
Because it was senior night, some players had a few words on their experiences with the veterans.
Matt Oestreich said, “they didn’t really know who I was, but as the year goes on I have become really good friends with them.”
After this game the seniors accumulated a four-year overall record of 65-40, going 37-28 in the WIAC during that time.
Head coach Jeff Gard was very proud of them for their game preparation, execution down the stretch, as well as their development of maturity on and off the court.
“Being with them for four or three years, they are like sons to me. Sometimes they will tell you I was a hard-nosed dad, but that’s part of the family. We take the good with the bad and have each other’s best interests at mind,” Gard said.
The Pioneers ended their regular season with a loss on the road to UW-River Falls, 74-62, on Feb. 21 and played UW-Oshkosh on Feb. 24 for the first round of the WIAC tournament with the results unavailable before publication.