UW-Whitewater defeated UW-River Falls 70-66 Saturday in the Karges Gym in River Falls, Wisconsin, the Falcons' first loss in the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference.

box score

UW-W opened the game with a 5-0 lead, and had upped the margin to 17-7 by the 10:42 mark on a layup by Chris Davis (Madison/East).  UW-RF came back with seven straight to make it 17-14 by 8:50, and were still within three at 19-16 with 7:52 on the clock.  The Warhawks ended the first twenty minutes with a 29-23 lead.  Whitewater struggled with a 39% field goal percentage in the first half, but the Warhawk defense made things even more difficult for the Falcons, who shot just 29%.  In what would prove to be telling in the end, UW-W was 2-16 from three point range, River Falls 0-9.  The two extra three pointers for UW-W offset a six point Falcon advantage, 9-11 versus 3-5, at the free throw line.

River Falls tied the game on a Shane Manor free throw at 32-32 at 16:32.  That was followed by a 6-0 burst by the Warhawks to make it 38-32 at 15:42, but RF responded with their own 6-0 spurt to tie the game again, 38-38 at 13:47.  Still tied 43-43 at the 12:32 mark, UW-W took the lead, for good, on a Luke Knoble (Boscobel/Boscobel) layup at 12:09.  The Warhawks' lead stayed in single digits, eventually reaching 65-57 as the Falcons fouled to stop the clock. 

Both teams made 24 shots from the field.  Both teams made 16 free throws.  The difference came from beyond the arc, where the Warhawks were 6-26 (23%) and the Falcons 2-18 (11%).

Davis scored 17 points for UW-W, with sophomore guard Antone Byrd (Milwaukee/Washington) adding 15 and a team high six rebounds.  Junior forward Alex Edmunds (Cedarburg/Cedarburg) chipped in with 14 points, and senior guard Phil Negri (Minocqua/Lakeland) led both teams with six assists.  Senior forward Jake Voelz led all scorers with 22 points, and his eight boards shared rebounding honors with junior guard Shane Manor, who also scored 15 points.  Senior guard Jontae Koonkaew was also in double figures with 11.  Voelz also led UW-RF with five assists.

UW-W, 14-7 overall and 7-5 in the WIAC, will travel to UW-Platteville Wednesday, February 9 for a 7:00 tipoff.  The Warhawks will close out the regular season with three home games, beginning Saturday, February 12 with a 3:00 start against UW-Eau Claire in Kachel Gym of Williams Center.

For additional information:  Pat Miller, UW-W coach