The Warhawk men's basketball team, ranked twenty-first in the D3hoops.com preseason poll, opened the 2010-2011 season with a 95-91 win over Defiance College at the Lee Pfund Classic hosted by Wheaton College in Wheaton, Illinois Friday night.

box score

Whitewater built an eight point lead, 21-13 with 14:28 in the first half, but Defiance caught up at 30-30 and opened their largest lead of the first half, 37-32 on a Logan Wolfrum jumper at 8:14.  The margin was still five, 51-46, at the 3:46 mark.  An old fashioned three point play by Whitewater's Chris Davis (Madison/East) knotted the game 54-54 at the half.

Everyone had to wonder if the pace of the first half could be maintained.  Defiance shot 59% from the floor, hitting 11-13 three pointers (85%) and 5-5 from the free throw line.  Whitewater was also shooting lights out, connecting on 62% of its field goals, going 7-11 (64%) from beyond the arc, and hitting 7-8 charity tosses.

Whitewater held an early lead in the second period, up 61-58 on a three by #D.J. Dantzler# at 17:10.  At 16:16 DC's Anthony Brown hit a three pointer to put his team ahead 63-61, and the Yellow Jackets held the narrow lead for more than six minutes before Antone Byrd (Milwaukee/Washington)'s three tied the game at 75-75.  It was then Whitewater's turn to hold the lead, eventually regaining the eight point bulge they had in the first half, 89-81 with 3:35 left.  DC was within three twice in the waning minutes, 90-87 and 94-91 with 0:18 remaining.  As the clock wound down Dantzler hit one of two free throws with 16 seconds left, and Phil Negri (Minocqua/Lakeland) grabbed a defensive rebound with six seconds left and ran out the clock.

Defiance cooled off a bit in the second half, shooting 35% from the floor, including just one of nine from three point range.  DC remained proficient at the free throw line, 10-14.  Whitewater's shooting touch also cooled, but not as much, hitting 50% in the second half, 4-9 from three point range, and making up the final margin at the line, going 15-20 in the last twenty minutes.

Dantzler and Davis shared scoring honors for UW-W, each netting 28 points.  Alex Edmunds (Cedarburg/Cedarburg) added 16 points and a game-high nine rebounds, and Dantzler dished out five assists for the Warhawks.  Dantzler also hit 5-8 threes.  Wolfrum, a guard, led all scorers with 29 points, with Brown adding 27.  Wolfrum also had a game high nine assists, and Kyle Tietje grabbed seven boards with 15 points for Defiance.

UW-Whitewater will play the winner of Friday's second game, host Wheaton versus Covenant College (GA) at 8:00. 

Whitewater will open the home portion of the 2010-2011 Wednesday, November 24, hosting Wisconsin Lutheran College at 7:00 in Kachel Gym in Williams Center.