PLATTEVILLE, Wis. – Trailing by six at halftime, the No. 19 University of Wisconsin-Platteville men's basketball team (12-4, 4-1 WIAC) rallied behind a strong defensive second half to beat No. 11 UW-Stevens Point (13-3, 3-2 WIAC) 63-61 on Saturday evening from Bo Ryan Court.

Leading the way for the Pioneers was junior Bristol Lewis, who scored a team-high 22 points on 8-of-14 shooting, including 4-of-6 from three-point range. Senior Max Love joined him in double figures with 10 points, while senior Joey Fuhremann and junior Max Lucey each added eight points.

After UW-Platteville scored the opening basket, the Pointers countered with 10 unanswered points to take an eight-point lead. Lewis ended the run with a three, but UW-Stevens Point maintained the slight lead for the next several minutes. Another six-point run pushed the visitors' lead up to 11 with over six minutes left in the half, but the Pioneers were able to cut the deficit down to 40-34 at the break thanks to a pair of free throws by senior Miles Hettinger in the closing seconds.

Love tied the game at 42 just over four minutes into the half behind two more free throws, but the Pointers regained the lead until a three-pointer by Lewis with 10:34 left gave UW-Platteville its first lead since early in the opening half. Lewis added a layup and junior Lucas Rameker made a steal and score to push the Pioneers lead to 54-48 with 8:11 remaining.

The advantage continued to grow over the next couple minutes, but the Pointers shaved the gap down to two with just 52 seconds left. UW-Stevens Point had a chance to tie or take the lead in the final 10 seconds, but Love came away with a steal and Lewis made a pair of free throws to go up four. A basket just before the buzzer made it a two-point game again, but the Pioneers ran on the clock to secure the win.

UW-Platteville shot 50.0 percent (24-of-48) from the floor in the win and 37.5 percent (6-of-16) from three-point range. From the line, the Pioneers finished 9-of-14 (64.3 percent).

The Pointers shot 42.4 percent (25-of-59) for the game and just 22.7 percent (5-of-22) from beyond the arc. After shooting over 50 percent in the opening half, UW-Platteville's defense held UW-Stevens Point to just 30.0 percent (9-of-30) across the final 20 minutes, including just 1-of-12 (8.3 percent) from deep. Seth Miron scored a game-high 25 points for the Pointers, but was limited to six points in the second half.

On the glass, Fuhremann came down with 10 rebounds to lead the Pioneers, while Hettinger added six. Rameker came away with three steals, all in the second half, to help fuel the comeback.

The Pioneers will welcome in UW-Whitewater on Wednesday night for the annual Garding Against Cancer contest. Tip-off is set for 7 p.m.

*As with every UW-Platteville win this year, the Platteville A&W will be offering a free ice cream cone (with purchase) the day after the win and the Platteville Taco John's will be offering a free churro (with purchase) the day after each Pioneer win.