The victory advances third-seeded UW-Oshkosh (21-5) to a semifinal round scuffle with second-seeded UW-La Crosse (18-7) on Thursday (Feb. 22) in La Crosse. The Eagles qualified for their debate with the Titans by tripping seventh-seeded UW-Stout (12-13), 63-58, on Tuesday.
Other quarterfinal round winners on Tuesday in the eight-team WIAC Tournament were top-seeded UW-Stevens Point (23-2) and fourth-seeded UW-Whitewater (18-8). UW-Stevens Point demolished eighth-seeded UW-Eau Claire (10-16), 89-55, to earn the right to host UW-Whitewater on Thursday in the tournament's other semifinal. UW-Whitewater extended its season by edging fifth-seeded UW-Platteville (13-12), 58-57.
Capelle, who was starting his 106th consecutive game for the Titans, scored his 20 points on 7-of-13 shooting from the field and 2-of-2 shooting from the free-throw line. He also grabbed six rebounds and dished off three assists. Marsh tallied his 20 points on 7-of-11 shooting from the field and 4-of-4 shooting from the free-throw stripe. He also collected six rebounds and recorded two assists.
Gibson, who was making his 99th start for UW-Oshkosh, counted his 18 points on 8-of-13 shooting from the field and 2-of-3 shooting from the free-throw line. He also snatched eight rebounds, dished off six assists and blocked four shots. Gibson has now blocked 349 shots during his 106-game UW-Oshkosh career to rank third in NCAA Division III history.
Off the bench, UW-Oshkosh received 11 points, six rebounds and one blocked shot from Dane Seckar-Anderson. Seckar-Anderson made three of his four shots from the field and five of his six free throws.
Courtney Davis provided nearly a third of UW-River Falls' scoring by totaling 21 points. He made nine of his 16 shots from the field and two of his four free throws. Davis also grabbed a team-high six rebounds.
UW-River Falls (10-16), seeded seventh in this year's WIAC Tournament, had two other double-figure scorers in the contest as Nate Robertson totaled 13 points and Jontae Koonkaew 10.
UW-River Falls opened the contest by taking a 13-8 lead with 15:05 left in the first half. UW-Oshkosh bounced back to tie the game at 13-13, and following a 15-15 deadlock, staged a 23-4 scoring run to take a 38-19 advantage with 4:30 remaining in the opening period. The Falcons then tallied 12 of the next 15 points to shrink the Titans' lead at intermission to 41-31.
Robertson opened the second half with four quick points as the Falcons cut their deficit to 41-35 with 18:48 to play. But 10 straight points by UW-Oshkosh immediately following that spurt put the Titans ahead 51-35 with 15:57 left. UW-Oshkosh led by 14-plus points the final 9:37 of the contest, including a 79-57 advantage with 2:53 to go.
UW-Oshkosh shot 54.5 percent (30-55) from the field and 73.9 percent (17-23) from the free-throw line. The Titans were 6-of-10 shooting (60 percent) behind the three-point line as Capelle made four of his seven shots and Marsh two of his three.
UW-River Falls shot 41 percent (25-61) from the field, but just 15.4 percent (2-13) behind the three-point arc. The Falcons shot 72.2 percent (13-18) from the free-throw line.
UW-Oshkosh, ranked seventh in the NCAA Division III by D3hoops.com, out-rebounded UW-River Falls, 37-28. The contest had 21 turnovers as UW-River Falls committed 10 and UW-Oshkosh 11.