Platteville must replace a trio of all-conference performers from last year’s 16–9 team that won the program’s first regional title since 1997.

But early returns indicate this year’s squad could be just as good.

Coach Mike Huser’s team hammered an overwhelmed Argyle squad 64–30 in last Tuesday’s 2017–18 season opener.

“I thought for the first game we played pretty solid, but a lot of room for improvement moving forward,” said Platteville head coach Mike Huser. “We got contributions from many players throughout the game and we showed that we have a lot of depth on this team. We were able to force 27 turnovers and that lead to us being able to transition and get some easy scoring opportunities.”

The Hillmen raced out to a 12–0 lead in the first six minutes and never looked back.

Argyle finally got on the board on Miken Godfrey’s putback layup with 11:56 left in the period, but it didn’t matter.

Platteville, both deep and talented, continued pouring it on.

Junior point guard Cade Rorhbach scored seven of his team-high 11 points in the first half. He also led the team with seven rebounds and three assists.

Senior guard Donovan Blevins, a second-team All-Southwest Wisconsin SConference selection a year ago, added nine points, a team-high five steals and three rebounds.

Junior guard Isaiah Oswald, who was a first-team All-SWAL selection last year as a sophomore at Cuba City, showed flashes of scoring ability in the first half and finished with nine points on a 3-pointer, a layup and 4 of 5 at the free throw line. The Platteville newcomer added four steals, three boards and two assists off the bench in his first game for the Hillmen.

Junior forward Trey Bartels gave Platteville energy and toughness in the paint, finishing with nine points and three rebounds in his first varsity game.

Senior Andy Eggers came off the bench and hit a pair of 3-pointers, including a buzzer-beater at the end of the half that send the Hillmen into the locker room with a 36–9 lead. He finished with eight points.

Argyle scored the first seven points of the second half to trim the deficit to 23 at 39–16, but Platteville scored the 13 points to pushed the lead to 49–16 with 10:38 left in the game on a Blevins layup.

NEXT: Platteville (1–0) hosted Shullsburg (0–0) Tuesday night and will now open Southwest Wisconsin Conference play Friday at Richland Center.

Platteville 64, Argyle 30

(from Tuesday, Nov. 21 @ Platteville)

Argyle 9   21 —  30

Platteville 36 28 —  64

Argyle (0–1) — Brent Ritschard 11, Dylan Steitz 2, Gavin Johnson 7, Jake Ploessl 2, Hayden Flannery 6, Miken Godfrey 2. Totals — 11 6-8 30.

Platteville (1–0) — Andy Eggers 8, Donovan Blevins 8, Austin Wein 3, Cade Rorhbach 11, Isaiah Oswald 9, Calvin Wernimont 5, Brandon Weigel 4, Connor Riley 2, Trey Bartels 9, Gerret Heer 2, Osaze King 2. Totals — 20 16-20 64.

3-point goals — A: 2 (Ritschard 1, H. Flannery 1); P: 8 (Eggers 2, Blevins 1, Wein 1, Rohrbach 2, Oswald 1, Wernimont 1). Total fouls — A: 16, P: 13. Fouled out — none.