Who are those guys? That famous line uttered by Paul Newman in "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid" also applied to the UW-Whitewater and UW-Superior men's basketball teams that met in a Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference semifinal at Kachel Gym in Williams Center, won by UW-W 77-73 in overtime. The WIAC champion Warhawks, 23-4 and ranked fourth in the D3hoops.com poll, hung on to edge the Yellowjackets 77-73 in overtime. The Warhawks will host UW-Stevens Point, 22-5 and ranked eighth in the national poll, Saturday at 7:00 pm. (The time depends on the outcome of Thursday's WIAC women's semifinals.) UW-W students will get free admission, compliments of DLK Enterprises, to the WIAC Tournament semifinal (Wednesday men, Thursday women) and final (Saturday) games, men and women, by showing their ID at the door.
box score
UW-Whitewater played without three starters, senior center Josh King (Janesville/Craig), senior forward Rob Perry (Milwaukee/Dominican), and junior guard Matt Goodwin (Milwaukee/Rufus King) were not available. UW-Superior made a statement with a late season rush, winning four games in a row, three of against teams that finished above the Yellowjackets in the WIAC standings.
Whitewater held a 25-13 lead with 8:04 left in the first half, but Superior outscored Whitewater 17-10 the rest of the half to make it 35-30 at the intermission.
Neither team led by more than five points in the second half. With Whitewater leading 64-62, Superior's Shane Manor made a layup with ten seconds left to tie the game. Whitewater brought the ball up-court, but a Superior player tipped the dribble out of bounds. Superior called a timeout with four seconds left, and Whitewater's set play resulted in a turnover and the Yellowjackets missed a halfcourt shot at the buzzer, sending the game into overtime.
Whitewater led 71-69 with 0:57 seconds in the overtime when a technical foul was called on the Yellowjackets for calling an extra time out. UW-W junior guard Myles McKay (Milwaukee/Menomonee Falls) made both free throws, making Whitewater's 73-69 at 0:54. Freshman guard brought UW-S back to within 73-71with a layup with 0:45 left. After an exchange of possessions, Whitewater junior forward Billy Kolinske (Big Bend/Waukesha Memorial) hit a pair of free throws with ten seconds left to up the margin to four, 75-71. Whitewater's Kevin Koski (Jefferson/Jefferson) stole the Superior inbounds pass and fed McKay for a layup to put the game out of reach. Superior scored a layup with time expiring for the final score.
McKay was the game's leading scorer with 22 points, with junior forward Kori Vernon (Madison/Memorial) adding 16, and Kolinske compiling a double double, 13 points and 11 rebounds. Junior forward Cory Brezovar (New Berlin/Eisenhower) scored 11 for UW-W. Freshman forward Jake Smith scored 21 to lead UW-S, with sophomore guard Dwight Hill contribuing 18 and freshman guard Dan Culy 13. Hill added 8 assists for the Yellowjackets, and Koski dished out 7 for the Warhawks.
Whitewater out-rebounded the Superior 41-22. UW-S made three more baskets than Whitewater, but UW-W had five more three's and five more free throws for the game.
Whitewater has played two overtimes this season, also beating UW-River Falls 88-82 January 5 in River Falls.
Superior, the fifth seed in the WIAC Tournament, ends the season 12-15.
The winner of the WIAC Tournament receives the league's automatic berth in the National Collegiate Athletic Association Division III championship tournament, which begins play next week.
For additional information:
Pat Miller, UW-W coach
WIAC basketball site
