PLATTEVILLE, Wis. (Interstat) — Kaden MacKenzie recorded 19 points, 11 rebounds and six assists as Wisconsin-Platteville pulled away from Buena Vista for an 88-65 men’s NCAA Division III basketball victory Sunday at Williams Fieldhouse. Lucas Rameker added 22 points and six rebounds for the Pioneers, who improved to 2-0. Ben Forbes scored 16 points with three rebounds, one assist and one block. Buena Vista dropped to 0-2. Attendance was 416.

Wisconsin-Platteville shot 34 of 62 from the floor, 16 of 35 from 3-point range and 4 of 6 from the free throw line. Buena Vista shot 15 of 49 from the floor, 9 of 22 from beyond the arc and 26 of 28 from the line. The Pioneers held a 36-10 advantage in points in the paint, a 6-2 edge in offensive rebounds and had two blocks. Buena Vista had 11 turnovers to Wisconsin-Platteville’s 12 and committed 14 fouls to the Pioneers’ 21. Each team finished with 71 possessions. Wisconsin-Platteville posted an offensive rating of 124.2, while Buena Vista finished at 91.2. The Beavers had 16 points off turnovers to the Pioneers’ 17 and held an 11-2 edge in fastbreak points.

Wisconsin-Platteville set the tone early. Logan Luxem opened the scoring with a 3-pointer 16 seconds into the game, and Ben Forbes hit a 3-pointer 23 seconds later for a 6-0 lead. After Carter Sievers answered with a 3 for Buena Vista, MacKenzie hit a 3 and a driving layup, Luxem made a layup and Forbes added another 3 to push the Pioneers ahead 16-3 with 16:56 left in the first half. Buena Vista steadied behind Cameron Hopkins, who made two layups and later added free throws, but Wisconsin-Platteville kept the margin in double digits. MacKenzie’s 3-pointer with 3:54 remaining gave the Pioneers a 43-23 lead. Buena Vista closed the half with eight straight free throws, getting two each from Hopkins, Sievers, Tyson Helms and Jayden Brink, to cut the deficit to 43-31 at halftime.

Buena Vista made a push early in the second half. Jayden Brink hit a 3-pointer, Helms made a 3-pointer and a layup, Easton Switzer connected from deep and Kyle Sternberg made a 3-pointer to help the Beavers cut the lead to 47-44 with 16:12 remaining. Wisconsin-Platteville responded through Rameker. Luxem hit a 3-pointer at 15:47, and Rameker made a 3-pointer at 11:43 before hitting four more 3-pointers over a span of about four minutes. His final 3 in that stretch came with 7:26 left and gave the Pioneers a 69-56 lead. Brink answered with a 3-pointer and Helms made two free throws to bring Buena Vista within 69-61, but Conley Schauf hit a 3-pointer and a free throw, Brady Ward made a layup and Luxem hit a floating jump shot to extend the lead to 77-61 with 4:01 remaining. Rameker added another 3-pointer at 3:30, MacKenzie made a layup and Rameker made two free throws to push the margin to 84-63. Broker Buschor made a layup before Sullivan Hall scored for Buena Vista and Eli Selk closed the scoring with a layup for Wisconsin-Platteville.

Tyson Helms led Buena Vista with 16 points, two rebounds and three assists. Jayden Brink finished with 13 points, three rebounds and three assists, and Carter Sievers scored 12 points. Cameron Hopkins added eight points, one rebound and one assist. Easton Switzer had three points, four rebounds and one assist. For Wisconsin-Platteville, Logan Luxem scored 12 points with one rebound and four assists. Broker Buschor had two points, four rebounds and one block. MacKenzie finished with 19 points, 11 rebounds and six assists. Rameker scored 22 points and added six rebounds and one assist, and Forbes added 16 points with three rebounds, one assist and one block.

Interstat’s game simulator had projected a final score of Wisconsin-Platteville 75, Buena Vista 71. Interstat’s ELO system had projected Wisconsin-Platteville with a 94.4 percent probability to win.