Milwaukee Pius XI High School's Matt Chrnelich will attend UW-Platteville and play basketball for the Pioneers, UWP Coach Paul Combs announced.

A 6-foot-5, 190-pound forward, Chrnelich earned honorable mention all-conference honors after helping Pius to its fourth straight conference championship. Chrnelich averaged eight points and nine rebounds per game as a senior. He also was a two-time all-conference football player. He is the son of Joe and Lori Chrnelich of Brookfield. His grandfather, Walter Welsh, played football for the Pioneers, and his father, Joe, was Bo Ryan's first recruit when Ryan was an assistant coach for Wisconsin Badgers. As UW-Platteville's head coach, Ryan led the Pioneers to NCAA Division III national championships in 1991, 1995, 1998 and 1999, He returned to Wisconsin and just led the Badgers to the Big Ten championship. The Pioneers re-named their floor the Bo Ryan Court in January, 2007.

Chrnelich will join a Pioneer team coming off a 19-7 record and second place in the tough Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference with a 12-4 mark. The Pioneers, with only one senior on the squad, were ranked 23rd nationally by D3hoops.com.