Playing in their first game in eight days, the eleventh ranked UW-Whitewater men's basketball team traveled to Olivet, Michigan on Sunday and defeated the Comets 74-53. The victory improves the Warhawks overall record to 6-1 while Olivet drops to 2-5.
Box Score
Josh King (Janesville/Craig) scored the first two points of the contest to give the Warhawks a lead that they would never relinquish. Despite some hot shooting from behind the three-point arc early in the game by Olivet's Brandon May, the Warhawks would continue to apply full court pressure to increase their lead. May nailed two deep three's early in the first half to keep the Comets in striking distance.
However, missed opportunities around the basket by Olivet would prove to be costly as the Comets shot only twenty-one percent from the field in the first half as opposed to the Warhawks forty-seven percent. The Warhawks would start on a 17-0 run with 9:20 remaining in the first half before Olivet could score when John Zenner would hit a three for the Comets with 1:55 remaining in the period.
Ten first half points by Miles McKay along with eight by Rob Perry (Milwaukee/Dominican) would give the Warhawks a 32-16 halftime lead. The Warhawks would also outrebound the Comets 24-16 in the first half. The sixteen points scored by the Comets in the first half is the least amount of points scored by a Warhawk opponent in the first half all season.
Olivet would score first in the second half and would have to work hard for every point they scored throughout the remainder of the game. Conversely, the Warhawks were able to get what they wanted on the offensive end, finding themselves wide open for easy baskets many times. The Warhawks would lead by double-digits throughout the rest of the second half with their largest lead being twenty-seven with 10:52 remaining in the game. The Comets did come as close as twelve with 3:22 remaining in the game but were never able to reduce the lead to single digits.
The Warhawks were led by McKay and Perry. Perry would score seventeen points and haul in six rebounds while McKay would tally twenty-two points, eight rebounds and five assists.
Olivet had strong performances from Joel Kerns and Brandon McClary. Kerns scored fourteen while McClary chipped in eleven.
The Warhawks return to action on Tuesday, December 18, when they host Cardinal Stritch University at 7 pm in the second game of a double-header with the women at the Williams Center in Whitewater. The women, ranked 6th in the country in two national polls, will play Coe College at 5 pm.
For additional information:
Pat Miller, UW-W head coach, 262-472-1146
UW-Whitewater men's basketball website: http://www.uwwsports.com/index.asp?path=mbball
