UW-Whitewater defeated UW-River Falls 80-75 Saturday afternoon in Kachel Gym of Williams Center. Coupled with UW-Stevens Point's loss to Platteville Saturday evening, the win gave the Warhawks sole possession of the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference championship the number one seed in the WIAC Tournament.  UW-W will host UW-Stout Monday at 7:00 in Kachel Gym in a WIAC tourney first round game.

box score

Twice as Nice

UW-W, ranked seventh in the D3hoops.com poll,  is 21-4 overall and 13-3 in the WIAC.

A River Falls eight point lead, 21-13 at 10:44, was the largest by either team in the first half which ended with a 40-40 tie.  River Falls senior guard Willie Wright scored eleven in the first half, and senior center Josh King (Janesville/Craig) and junior guard Matt Goodwin (Milwaukee/Rufus King) had ten each for UW-W.  River Falls made 5-8 threes in the first half.

Neither team could get a double digit lead in the second half.  Whitewater led 75-73 after a layup by Falcon freshman guard Brady Hannigan with 0:56 left.  Whitewater junior guard Myles McKay (Milwaukee/Menomonee Falls) made a pair of free throws with 0:26 left, putting UW-W up 77-73.  River Falls missed a one-and-one on its next possession, and King grabbed the rebound and was fouled.  He made both free throws to put UW-W in front 79-73 with twelve seconds left to effectively seal the victory.

Only six UW-W players scored in the game, including all five starters.  Junior forward Kori Vernon (Madison/Memorial) had 26 points, his career high.  Junior guard Myles McKay (Milwaukee/Menomonee Falls) scored 17, and King and Goodwin 14 each.  Sophomore point guard Kevin Koski (Jefferson/Jefferson) dished out eight assists.  Wright led UW-RF with 19, Hannigan and freshman forward Jake Voeltz had 11 apiece.

Whitewater made 20-27 free throws, River Falls 5-8, off-setting the Falcons 60% shooting from the floor.

UW-River Falls ends the regular season with a 9-16 mark overall, 3-13 in the league.

The championship is UW-Whitewater's twelfth WIAC men's basketball title.  UW-W also won the title outright in 2006.

The winner of the WIAC Tournament, not league champion, earns the WIAC's automatic berth in the National Collegiate Athletic Association Division III championship tournament.