The UW-Oshkosh men’s basketball team lost its first game of the season 60-52 to St. Norbert’s College Monday in De Pere.
This was the second consecutive year the Green Knights beat the Titans, who are ranked 24th in the d3hoops.com poll, in their season opener.
Senior forward D.J. Marsh was the only Titan to record a double-digit scoring night as he totaled 17 points. He also led in rebounds with six, and tied sophomore guard Greg Schrimpf, who added nine points.
Marsh said the team had some first-game jitters and they should have converted more offensive opportunities.
“I think we played pretty timid on offense,” Marsh said. “We had a lot of good looks. We just didn’t make them.”
Senior forward Steven Waudby contributed eight points and two rebounds for the team, and junior guard Cory Wittwer added seven points and two boards as well.
The Titans shot a disappointing 32.1 percent from the field for the game that included shooting 26.1 percent in the first half of play.
From behind the three-point line, the Titans could not find their rhythm and shot 2-19, or 10.5 percent.
St. Norbert’s College, on the other hand, shot 42.2 percent for the game.
Oshkosh’s poor shooting to start the game, coupled with some early turnovers, allowed the Green Knights, who converted their first five shot attempts, to jump out to an early 14-4 lead.
The Titans responded with eight unanswered points, after Marsh nailed two free throws, to make the score 14-12 with 7:37 left to play in the opening half. They also cut the lead to three points, at 19-16, with four minutes left in the half.
After that point, the Titans were outscored 12-3 in the last four minutes.
Their cold shooting was the story of the first half as they went into the locker room down 30-19 at the break.
In the second half, Oshkosh’s field goal shooting increased by 10 percentage points, and they outscored the Green Knights 33-30.
The Titans came out strong to start the second half as they went on a 19-6 run to take the lead with the score 38-36 with 10:31 left.
After the Titans’ hot start to the second half, the Green Knights racked up nine unanswered points, and they would not look back.
The Titans came to within three points at 52-49, but after that they would only go on to make only one more three-point basket as the Green Knights iced the game from the free-throw line.
Coach Ted Van Dellen said the team had a rough night shooting the ball and that they need a more balanced attack on offense.
“We struggled on the offensive end,” Van Dellen said. “We’re going to have to have some other individuals step up and help him (Marsh) out on the offensive end.”
Van Dellen said he was happy with slowing down the Green Knights, though.
“I was real pleased on the defense end,” Van Dellen said. “That’s as good as defense we’ve played in three years.”
However, St. Norbert had seven blocks and seven steals while the Titans only accounted for one block and four steals in the contest.
The Titans will look to get their first victory tonight against Lawrence University at 7 p.m. in Appleton.
Men’s basketball team can’t shake shoddy shooting
Published: Wednesday, November 18, 2009
Updated: Wednesday, November 18, 2009 23:11
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