Once upon a time, when freshmen were newborns and elder students were learning the alphabet, an 18-year-old basketball player by the name of Rob Jeter took the floor for the University of Wisconsin-Platteville.

Even then, head coach Bo Ryan knew he had something special on the hardwood.

How right he was.

Last week, in only his second game as head coach of the UWM Panthers, Rob Jeter led his team against his alma mater. Alma mater, the Latin word for “nurturing mother,” couldn’t have been truer in his case.

“There’s a lot of pride in wearing that uniform,” Jeter said. “I know because I wore one.”

It was obvious that the pride Jeter spoke of was no joke. The UW-Platteville Pioneers came out swinging against the Panthers in UWM’s final exhibition game Nov. 8, keeping the game deadlocked for most of the first half.

It wasn’t until 5:59 remained in the half that UWM took the lead for good.

At that time, point guard Chris Hill took a three-pointer to make the score 20-18 in favor of the Panthers. With the game in hand, UWM came away with a 63-47 win against the Pioneers.

Individual performances were solid on the night. Horizon League preseason Player of the Year Joah Tucker dropped 12 points in 31 minutes, improving an inside game with five rebounds.

Point guard Chris Hill took the honorary nickname “Clutch,” nailing the three-pointer to take the lead for good, as well as stealing the ball twice en route to fast-break lay-ups that stifled runs by the Pioneers.

Boo Davis struggled from the field, going 2-7 for seven points, but he made key defensive stops, including a spectacular block on a Platteville player who was trying to make a lay-up on a fast break.

Jason McCoy was especially good on both sides of the floor, making solid rebounds and scoring 10 points on 5-of-8 shooting, all in only 18 minutes.

Adrian Tigert scored 11 points and tied Tucker for the team lead with five rebounds.

Platteville came to play, and two of its stars shined in front of the big crowd. Jeff Skemp had four rebounds, one steal and two assists. He had a game-high 14 points on 5-of-9 shooting.

Tying him was teammate Charlie Lohoff, who was lights out beyond the arc, nailing three treys and nabbing five rebounds.

Platteville’s LeVon Crawford had a double-double, scoring 10 points as well as nabbing 10 rebounds.

“Every year we have an opportunity to play them, we will, because they give us the kind of game we need to play,” Jeter said.

On his own players, Jeter had praise as well.

“I’m proud of our guys. Our guys were bloodied, knocked down, but we got up, kept fighting, and that’s the sign of a good team.”

UWM will have its first home game of the regular season on Monday, Nov. 21, at 7 p.m. Upper Iowa University, a Division II school, will come into the U.S. Cellular Arena looking to pull off an extremely unlikely upset.

> Comments