Box Score

ROCK ISLAND, Ill. –Ben Boots scored 29 points in the final 20 minutes Saturday to lead Wisconsin-Oshkosh to a 95-88 overtime victory over Augustana in an NCAA Division III sectional final at Carver Center. Boots' performance countered a brilliant effort by the Vikings' Nolan Ebel (Regis Jesuit HS, Denver, Colo.) as the Titans (24-7) earned their first-ever final four trip while denying Augustana (25-6) its third in four years.
 
With 3:03 to play, junior Brett Benning (Dakota HS, Davis, Ill.) hit a three-pointer from the right corner to give the hosts a 72-66 lead. However, Boots answered with consecutive threes to forge the 14th tie of the game.
 
After a Chrishawn Orange (Jacobs HS, Algonquin, Ill.) bucket put the Vikings back on top 74-72, Boots hit from beyond the arc for the third straight possession to give Oshkosh a 75-74 lead. Following an Augustana turnover, Kyle Beyak split a pair of free throws for the Titans to make it 76-74 with 25 seconds left. Orange tied it with a runner in the lane with five seconds left and Boots missed a desperation attempt from near halfcourt as time expired, sending the contest to overtime.
 
The teams traded blows to start the extra session as senior Dylan Sortillo (Bettendorf HS, Bettendorf, Iowa) and Ebel each connected on long twos and Boots answered with a pair of jumpers. An Ebel layup gave the Vikings their final lead at 83-82, but Boots drained another three with 2:33 remaining to make it 85-83, UWO. Two Benning free throws tied it for the 18th and final time at 85-all, but Brett Wittchow hit two free throws at 1:39 to give the Titans the lead for good and his three-pointer from the right wing with 25 seconds left stretched the Oshkosh advantage to five (90-85).
 
UWO hit five of six free throws in the final 19 seconds to put the game out of reach.
 
Wittchow hit a pair of threes on the Titans' first two possessions of the game and they ran out to a 13-4 lead six minutes in. Augustana settled in and eventually tied it 18-all on an Orange layup with 8:39 to play in the first half. It would be nearly three more minutes until the hosts would finally take their first lead 26-25 on an Ebel free throw. There would be three more lead changes and four more ties in the period. A Boots three gave his team a 39-36 lead with six second left in the half, but Ebel threw one in from halfcourt at the buzzer to send the teams to the locker room tied at 39.
 
Ebel twice gave the Vikings an eight-point advantage early in the second half, but a Boots three-pointer eventually tied it at 58-all with nine minutes left. Neither team would build a lead of more than three points until Benning's trey at 3:03.
 
Ebel finished with a game and career-high 38 points on 12-of-19 shooting from the field, 3-of-7 from beyond the arc and 11-of-12 from the foul line. Benning added 16 points and a game-high eight rebounds and Orange scored 13. Boots' 36 points and six assists led Oshkosh. Wittchow added 19 points and Jack Flynn a dozen.
 
The Titans finished 17 of 35 (.486) from three-point range for the game, while Augustana hit just five of 20 (.250). The rest of the statistics were relatively close. The Vikings were 27 of 63 (.429) from the field and 29 of 36 (.806) from the free throw line, while UWO shot .403 (27-67) and .774 (24-31), respectively. Rebounds were even at 41 and Augustana committed 10 turnovers to seven for Oshkosh.