Season ends for 'most accomplished Wheaton team ever'
FORT WAYNE, Ind. - Wheaton College came out fighting and the NCAA's leading scorer Aston Francis made plenty of statements Friday night, but it was Wisconsin-Oshkosh that had the final say in a 104-85 win.
The Titans used a balanced scoring effort to advance to the Division III national title game on Saturday night. Wheaton's first trip to the national semifinal ended despite a game-high 44 points from Francis.
"When you lose, you often want to come up with explanations, excuses, but in reality at this point, all you can really do is tip your hat to them," Wheaton coach Mike Schauer said. "I thought they were sensational. We could not find a way to stop them, they are so balanced."
Wisconsin-Oshkosh's Jack Flynn, Ben Boots and Brett Wittchow each scored 21 points, Adam Fravert had 19 points and Connor Duax added 14.
Wisconsin-Oshkosh started fast, opening up an 8-0 lead less than 90 seconds in, led by a pair of 3-pointers from Fravert. It was an immediate hole that Wheaton had to overcome, but the Thunder did so on the strength of its interior defense leading to fast scores on the other end.
Francis got Wheaton going with his first basket, a 3-pointer at the 18:14 mark of the first half. As the Thunder fought off the 6-foot-8 Flynn down low and Wisconsin-Oshkosh struggled trip after trip at the rim, Francis worked Wheaton back into the game by abandoning his 3-point shot and getting to the basket.
"There is a lot of talk about how you guard (Francis). We were hoping that whatever we tried to do was going to work," Wisconsin-Oshkosh coach Matt Lewis said.
Wheaton pulled ahead by as many as 5 before Wisconsin-Oshkosh pushed its first little comeback of the half, eventually tying the game at 24 after two straight and-one opportunities.
Francis hit his second 3-pointer with 6:05 left in the half with a hand in his face to break that tie and Wheaton led 34-28 before Oshkosh went on a 14-0 run. A Boots 3-pointer in transition off an Eric Peterson basket pushed Oshkosh ahead for good with 3:09 left in the opening half.
"You would expect maybe some shakiness being the first time (in the Final Four)," Francis said. "But obviously you get to play a great team on a stage like that. We feel very fortunate to have been able to be here."
Francis opened the second half with a 3-pointer, and Wheaton consistently got its shots in but couldn't get the game any closer than 5 points. Back to back 3-pointers on strong ball rotation around the 11-minute mark of the second half - first from Boots, then from Wittchow - gave Wisconsin-Oshkosh a 72-59 lead.
The Titans looked consistently comfortable playing with a lead of 5 to 10 points throughout the second half. Time after time over the final 10 minutes, Wisconsin-Oshkosh looked inside to Flynn, who was just too big as he spun elbow first off defenders.
Francis meanwhile appeared to run out of steam in the closing minute after being harassed by the Wisconsin-Oshkosh defense all night. He delivered his final collegiate basket on layup from an inbounds play with 1:40 to play.
"To compete in our league, you have to have a team who can get here. That is just the truth of it," Schauer said. "I am so proud of our team to get that done. It is the most accomplished Wheaton team ever."