The Goose was loose, and that usually means good things for UW-Platteville.
Playing his first basketball since spraining his ankle Dec. 30, Mark Gossens scored 11 of his 15 points in the second half while leading UW-Platteville to a 66-63 comeback win at UW-Whitewater Wednesday.
"He's been our rock for the last couple of years," Pioneer Coach Paul Combs said. "His prescence gave our younger guys a lot of confidence."
The Pioneers overcame a 40-27 halftime deficit to halt a three-game slide, which coincided with the injuries to Gossens, a senior forward, and junior center Jeff Skemp.
UW-Platteville erased that 13-point deficit by starting the second half on a 24-4 run. Charlie Lohoff scored eight points during that run, and Gossens' layup with 10:57 left gave the Pioneers a stunning 51-44 lead.
"At halftime we told them just to stay within the offense, get good looks, play soild defense and just chip away at it," Combs said. "Then we had stops on 10 straight possessions."
The Warhawks regained the lead 54-53, but Mike Shaw's three-point basket gave UWP the lead for good at 56-54 with 5:08 to play. Gossens made two free throws with 27 seconds remaining, and after UWW's Anthony Mlachnick scored with 10 seconds left, Curt Hanson made one of two free throws for the 66-63 margin. The Warhawks' Jason Price missed a three-point shot with four seconds left.
UW-Platteville improved to 8-5 overall and 3-3 in the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference, while UW-Whitewater fell to 9-5, 3-3.
"From a morale standpoint, this was a good shot in the arm for us," Combs said.
Lohoff led all scorers with 21 points, adding three assists and four rebounds. Gossens and Hanson each scored 15, with Hanson knocking down 6-8 from the field.
Rob Perry made all six of his shots and scored 15 points to lead the Warhawks, while Andy Freund added 11.
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