Dustin Mitchell (Lac Du Flambeau/Lakeland), the most experienced player returning this season, led the UW-Whitewater men's basketball team to an 82-81 season opening win over Carthage College in Kenosha Friday night.
box score
Carthage took an early lead, 12-5 with 15:52 left. The Warhawks pulled even, 17-17 and 19-19, before taking the lead. UW-W upped their lead to nine points twice, 36-27 and 37-28, and led 46-38 at halftime.
Although Carthage never led in the second half UW-W never led by double digits, and most of the period was spent with the Redmen closing in the rear view mirror. The Warhawks led 82-76 on two free throws by #D.J. Dantzler# with 0:28 left. Max Cary responded quickly for Carthage with a layup with 0:18 to make it 82-78. Whitewater turned the ball over on the inbounds, and Steve Djurickovic layed it in while being fouled, making the free throw to pull Carthage to within one, 82-81 with nine seconds left. UW-W inbounded the ball to Mitchell, who missed both free throw attempts. Carthage grabbed the rebound, gave it to Djurickovic -- who missed a shot with the clock running out.
Mitchell led UW-Whitewater with 28 points and 18 rebounds, both career highs for the senior center. The 18 boards ties the fifth highest mark in school history, and the most by a UW-W player since 1999. He made 9-13 from the floor and 10-14 free throws. Ten of his boards came on the offensive glass. Forward Mike Bendall (Oconomowoc/Oconomowoc) and Dantzler contributed 14 points each for UW-W. Chris Vines (Milwaukee/Washington) topped the Warhawks with five assists
Djurickovic, a preseason All-American, proved his mettle. He scored a game-high 33 points on 12-22 shooting from the floor and 9-10 at the stripe. He also took game honors with nine assists and shared his team lead with four rebounds. Cary chipped in with 15 points, and forward Tyler Pierce added 12 for Carthage.
UW-W is ranked thirteenth by D3hoops.com in the 2009-2010 preseason poll.
UW-W will play Aurora University, 0-1, at 5:00 Saturday in Kenosha in the second night of the Carthage Classic. The first home game for the Friday, November 27 in the Commercial Bank Thanksgiving Classic versus Loras College at 7:00.
For additional information: Pat Miller, UW-W head coach
