Helped by seventeen first half points from senior guard Matt Goodwin (Milwaukee/King), UW-Whitewater got out in front early and held on to defeat UW-River Falls 86-81 Tuesday night in a Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference quarterfinal game at Kachel Gym in Williams Center in Whitewater, Wisconsin. UW-W will travel to Platteville for a WIAC semifinal Thursday at 7:00 in Williams Fieldhouse.
box score
photo gallery (Joy Kowald)
The game was tied 5-5 when Whitewater scored thirteen straight to go up 18-5 at 15:26. The Warhawks expanded their lead to twenty-one, 49-28 at intermission.
River Falls patiently cut the margin back to single digits, 56-47 on two free throws by Jake Voeltz at 14:44. Whitewater still led 65-55 at 10:45 when the Falcons went on an 8-0 run to narrow the gap to 65-63 with 7:07 left. Whitewater came right back with a 7-0 burst and still held a ten point lead, 82-72 with 1:18 left. River Falls outscored Whitewater 9-2 over the next 1:04 to pull within 84-81 on a Danny Johnson three with 0:14 seconds left, but Goodwin made two free throws with eight seconds left to close out the game.
Whitewater made its living at the free throw line, hitting 31-39. That ties the season high for free throws made, also accomplished January 7 against UW-La Crosse in Williams Center. The Falcons were 20-24 from the line. UW-RF compensated for the difference at the free throw line with an advantage at the trhee point line, making 11-22 while Whitewater was just 3-8.
Goodwin ended up scoring 25 to lead both teams, with 12 of the 15 coming from the line. Fellow guard Myles McKay (Menomonee Falls/Menomonee Falls) added 19 points, 7-8 from the line. Phil Negri (Minocgua/Lakeland) added to the backcourt production with 12 points, and forward Kori Vernon (Madison/Memorial) also had 12. Vernon led both teams with eight rebounds, and Billy Kolinske (Waukesha/Catholic Memorial) dished out a team high four assists and three steals.
UW-RF was led by Voeltz's 20 points, including 10-10 from the line. Also Danny Johnson 17, 5-8 from long range, and Jontae Koonkaew contributed 10 points. Aaron Anderson had a game high five assists.
UW-W won all three meetings between the teams this year. The Warhawks won 90-68 in Whitewater January 3 and 72-68 last Saturday in River Falls.
UW-W is 22-4 overall and ranked seventh in Division III. UW-Platteville is 21-4 and ranked fifth. The teams split their regular season matchups, both winning at home. The winner of Thursday's semifinal will advance to the WIAC Tournament championship game Saturday against the winner of Thursday's other semifinal between UW-Oshkosh and UW-Stevens Point in Point.
For additional information: Pat Miller, UW-W coach
