PLATTEVILLE, Wis. – A slow start for the Carleton College men's basketball team doomed the Knights in a 78-57 loss at the University of Wisconsin-Platteville.
Carleton (1-2) opened the game by going just 4-of-19 (21.1 percent) from the field and trailed 39-12 with 6:43 remaining in the first half.
The Knights found their rhythm and made 7-of-their next-10 field goal attempts, enroute to out-scoring the Pioneers (3-0)—who are receiving votes in this week's D3hoops.com top-25 poll—by a 45-39 margin over the final 26-plus minutes of the contest.
While Carleton began the game cold, UW-Platteville got off to a hot start. The hosts never trailed in the contest as they shot 50 percent from both inside (16-of-32) and outside (6-of-12) the arc during the first half.
Carleton finished the game shooting 35.1 percent overall and 28.6 percent (6-of-21) from long range with an 11-for-22 effort at the charity stripe. The Pioneers connected at a 44.1 percent clip on the evening while going 8-of-22 (36.4 percent) from beyond the arc and 18-of-22 (81.8 percent) at the line. The Knights won the turnover battle, with 11 giveaways compared to 15 for UW-Platteville.
Josh Engleberg and
Sam Koelling paced Carleton with 11 points apiece, with the latter pulling down a team-best eight rebounds.
Patrick Smith and
Tobias Averill chipped in seven points each, while
Omar Kaba and
Owen Zabel both tallied six points.
Logan Luxem led UW-Plattevile with 17 points, with Lucas Tameker adding 14 points. Both Ben Forbes and Kaden MacKenzie fell a rebound shy of a double-double, accounting for 12 and 11 points, respectively.
Up Next for the Knights
Carleton will face North Park University on day two of the Gabe Miller Classic. Tipoff on Saturday, Nov. 14 is set for 3:00 p.m.
