Senior guard Dupree Fletcher (Milwaukee/Rufus King) came off the bench to score 27 points and lead UW-Whitewater to an 81-69 win over UW-Eau Claire at Kachel Gym in Williams Center in Whitewater Saturday night.  The win keeps UW-W in first place in the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference with two games left in the regular season and assured Whitewater of a first round bye in the WIAC Tournament.

box score

photo gallery (Courtesy of Tim Gumz)

With the score 10-10 UW-EC pulled in front 18-12 with 11:54 left in the first half.  Whitewater finally regained the lead on a Fletcher three at 9:42 to put UW-W back in front 25-23.  Whitewater led the rest of the half, going in to the locker room with a 46-34 lead.

UW-W pulled away in the second, building a 70-49 lead with 8:25 remaining.  The closest the Blugolds would get the rest of the way was 78-67 with just 1:20 left.  

You would be hard pressed to find a statistical category that stuck out to key the Warhawks' victory.  It came on making five more field goals (31-26), two of them three pointers.  That was demonstrated in the key stat, UW-W shooting 58% to 46% for UW-EC.

Fletcher was 8-11 from the field, 6-7 from beyond the arc.  Senior center Dustin Mitchell (Lac Du Flambeau/Lakeland) scored 16 points and pulled down nine rebounds, and junior guard DJ Dantzler (Joliet, IL/Joliet Township) scored 11.  Junior guard Phil Negri (Minocqua/Lakeland) had a game high eight assists.   The Blugolds were led by 21 points from senior center Geoff Probst, with junior center Amadou Fofana adding 15.  Senior guard Colin Boone was also in double figures with 11 points, and he led his team with six rebounds.  

UW-Whitewater will travel to UW-Oshkosh Wednesday, and finish the WIAC regular season at home Saturday, hosting UW-Superior at 3:00.  The WIAC Tournament begins February 25, with the top two teams receiving first round byes.  UW-W, 11-3 in league play and 19-4 overall, is assured of one of those two byes.

For additional information:  Pat Miller, UW-W coach