Platteville’s Andy Eggers experienced the in-the-zone game all shooters dream about Friday night.
The junior guard hit his first 3-point attempt less than a minute into the game and that was the spark that light the fire.
Eggers went on to make 8 of 10 3-point attempts on the night, including seven in the first half, en rout to a career-high 26 points in Platteville’s 83–49 dismantling of visiting Dodgeville.
Senior forward Donovan Blevins added 22 points and seven rebounds and junior point guard Cade Rohrbach finished with 12 points and five assists as coach Mike Huser’s Hillmen outplayed the Dodgers (9–11, 4–5 SWC) in every facet of the game. In the process, Platteville clinched at least a share of the program’s first conference title since 1996–97.
The Hillmen (15–5, 7–2) can clinch the outright title either with a River Valley loss to Prairie du Chien (9–10, 4–4) in Tuesday night’s makeup game or a head-to-head victory over the second-place Blackhawks (8–10, 5–3) in next Thursday’s regular season finale.
“I think we were all excited to clinch at least a share of the conference championship,” said Huser. “The players had this as one of their goals, but I know they would like to get the outright championship. This is the first one in a long time, so they understood they were not just representing themselves, but also former players and coaches that have come before them and contributed to the success along the way.
“In the locker room after the game, the players were already talking about what we need to get better at, so they understand there is still room for improvement and the need to remain focused on the task at hand. This group stays pretty even keel, so there wasn’t a lot of jumping around, but I could tell they were excited for each other.”
Eggers was the story of the game, delivering long ball after long ball in the early going. He hit back-to-back three midway through the half to give the Hillmen at 17–9 with 11:30 left on the clock.
Junior Isaiah Oswald hit a jumper, Rohrbach canned a triple and junior Connor Riley scored inside to make it 24–14 three minutes later.
Eggers continued his sharp shooting with four straight threes in four-minute span to spark a 23–8 Platteville run late in the half. He seventh trey of the half gave the Hillmen a 40–19 lead. He finally missed with two minutes left in the half, but the damage was done.
“Andy had a big game shooting and got himself into a good rhythm early,” said Huser. “His teammates did an exceptional job of getting him the ball where he could catch and shoot without any disruption.
“His shooting spree on Friday was not a surprise because when young men put in countless hours on summer days or when nobody is watching, then you have shooting nights like he did on Friday night. Those types of performances do not happen by accident. Right now in our program we have a number of guys that love being in the gym and they were all really happy for Andy to have that type of shooting night.”
Eggers capped his night with an eight 3-pointer and a driving flip shot on back-to-back possessions that extended the Platteville lead to 58–34 with 12:45 left.
All 13 Hillmen saw extended playing time and 11 scored in the game.
Junior Adam Phillips scored a team-high 15 points for the Dodgers. Senior Bryce Prochaska added 13 points and eight rebounds.
“The kids talked after the game about not being content with a share of the championship,” added Huser. “I know they would like to win the title outright and they will prepare themselves to do that. It is an exciting time of the year and it is a credit to the kids that they have put themselves in this position to navigate their way through a balanced league this year, and to have an opportunity to win a conference championship.”
Platteville traveled to struggling Juda (6–13) for a non-conference game Tuesday night.
Platteville 83, Dodgeville 49
(from Friday, Feb. 9 @ Platteville)
Dodgeville 27 22 — 49
Platteville 42 41 — 41
Dodgeville (9–11, 4–5) — Adam Phillips 15, Dylan McGraw 1, Peyotn Tranel 3, Brantley Eastman 8, Bryce Prochaska 13. Totals — 16 11-22 49.
Platteville (15–5, 7–2) — Andy Eggers 26, Donovan Blevins 22, Cade Rohrbach 12, Brock Schambow 3, Isaiah Oswald 4, Gabe Tashner 2, Brandon Weigel 4, Zach White 1, Connor Riley 4, Trey Bartels 3, Osaze King 2. Totals — 33-62 10-18 83.
3-point goals — P: 10 (Eggers 8, Rohrbach 2), D: 6 (Phillips 4, Tranel 1, Prochaska 1). Total fouls — D: 12, P: 18. Fouled out — none.
