Madison, Wis. – Trailing UW-Platteville (1-2) by 13 points at halftime, Edgewood College (1-1) played a solid second half to rally to a 61-60 victory over the Pioneers from the Todd Wehr Edgedome on Tuesday. Seth Cooper*’s (Madison, Wis.) running jumper as time expired capped off the remarkable comeback, as the Eagles have now beaten eight out nine NCAA Div. III schools within the University of Wisconsin system (UW-Eau Claire) under head coach Dr. G. Steven Larson.
Edgewood College trailed by as many as 17 points when LeVon Crawford’s tip-in gave the Pioneers a 39-22 advantage with 4:01 remaining in the first half. The Eagles cut the deficit down to single digits after a pair of free throws by Dave Michalkiewicz (Menasha, Wis.) with 11:37 remaining in the contest.
Back-to-back three point baskets by Cooper and Justin Kuhnau (Wisconsin Dells, Wis.) cut the UW-Platteville lead down to five, 54-49, with 8:33 left to play. The Eagles then held the visitors scoreless for the final three minutes, as Edgewood College slowly got within one, 59-60, when Larson called timeout with 15 seconds on the clock following a quick steal by Cooper and layup by Greg Blaska (DeForest, Wis.).
The Eagles fouled preseason All-American Brad Reitzner, who finished with 15 points, on the ensuing inbound pass. However, Reitzner missed the front end of a bonus and Cooper pulled down the loose rebound with 11 seconds remaining and called another timeout. Edgewood College sent the inbound pass to Cooper, who shook a couple of defenders and dribbled just left of the lane and hit his game-winning jumper at the buzzer.
Cooper finished with nine points, six rebounds, and two steals. Edgewood College was again led by freshman Charlie Averkamp (New Berlin, Wis.), who tallied a game-high 20 points and eight rebounds. Blaska added 12 points and two blocked shots, while Michalkiewicz had three steals and a game-high eight assists.
Defensively, the Eagles forced seven turnovers and held UW-Platteville to just 8-of-25 (32.0%) shooting in the second half en route to outscoring their opponent 32-18 in the final period.
Edgewood College will host North Park University on Sunday, Nov. 28 in the Todd Wehr Edgedome. Tip-off is scheduled for 3 p.m.
