In a game that took more than two hours to play and included 47 personal fouls, 36 of which were committed in the second half, the Washington University Bears put their best foot forward on opening night of the 2003-04 season with an 83-78 victory over the University of Wisconsin-Platteville Pioneers. The Bears advanced to the Kiwanis-Wittenberg Tip-Off Classic Championship game at 8 p.m. Saturday night, while Wisconsin-Platteville will appear in the consolation game at 3 p.m. Saturday.

The Pioneers jumped out to a 12-0 lead to start the game, but the Bears got right back into it with a 10-2 run of their own. Wisconsin-Platteville for most of a well-played first 20 minutes, and even made a run to close the half after falling behind by as much as seven points, heading into the intermission trailing 37-36. In the second half, however, Washington University never allowed the Pioneers to re-take the lead, staving off a variety of runs after the game was tied for a final time at 49-49 with 12:36 remaining. Wisconsin-Platteville made a game effort down the stretch, committing numerous fouls and taking advantage of missed free throws to creep within three points in the final seven seconds, but Washington University finally iced with a pair of free throws by Barry Bryant.

The Bears, who shot 56 percent from the field as a team and held a 35-31 advantage in rebounds, got 26 points from Bryant, a total that led all scorers, as he shot 8-of-11 from the field and 9-of-12 from the free throw line. Rob Keller added 18 points on 7-of-9 shooting from the field and Scott Stone chipped in with 11 points. Keller was the team's high rebounder with five and tops in assists with four, while Bryant was credited with five steals. Washington University's Achilles was at the free throw line as the Bears made just 21 of 35 attempts and were unable to put the game away as a result.

The Pioneers, put five players in double figures in scoring, led by Brandon Temperly's 16 points. Brad Reitzner and Tom Uppena added 14 points each, Frank McGettigan finished with 13 points and Mark Gossens rounded things out with 10 points off the bench. Uppena led with eight rebounds and Temperly added seven board. As a team, Wisconsin-Platteville finished with a 45 percent shooting average from the floor.