Box Score The UW-Whitewater men's basketball team, ranked third in the most recent d3hoops.com poll, opened the season with a 75-68 win over Beloit College in Whitewater Saturday night.

photo gallery (courtesy of Amanda Ong, available for purchase)

The Bucs opened the game with an 8-0 run and extended the lead to 17-3 at 14:09. The Warhawks responded with a 7-0 run to bring the score to 17-10 in favor of Beloit at the 11:53 mark. A Beloit College three-pointer broke the Warhawk run but UW-W responded with another 7-0 run to make the score 20-17 at 8:46. Whitewater took their first lead, 24-23, on a Reggie Hearn (Milwaukee/Marshall) layup at 6:07. The Bucs went on a 5-0 run to regain the lead 28-24 with 4:22 remaining in the half. Beloit extended their lead going into the lockerroom with a 5-0 spurt in the last 1:45 to gain a 37-30 advantage at halftime. 

The Bucs shot 59%, 16-27 from the floor, compared to Whitewater's 36%, 12-33 for field goals. Beloit held a 21-12 advantage on the boards including 16 defensive rebounds. The Warhawks stayed in the game by forcing 10 turnovers while committing just four. James Lazarcik was 6-6 from the field with 14 points and nine rebounds for Beloit to lead all players in the first half. Quardell Young (Kenosha/Bradford) led the Warhawks with eight points in the first twenty minutes.

With the score 41-32, UW-W used a 7-0 stretch to narrow the margin to 41-39 at the 17:37 mark. The Bucs maintained the lead until 8:37 when Eric Bryson (Elkhorn/Elkhorn) gave Whitewater its first lead of the second half on a breakaway three-pointer on the right wing off a pass from Young, 60-59. The teams traded points until back-to-back layups from Young and Cody Odegaard (Poynette/Poynette) pushed the Whitewater lead to five, 69-64, with 3:29 left. Beloit fouled to try and stop the clock but Whitewater knocked down four free throws to put the game out of reach.

UW-W scored 18 points in the paint and 15 off turnovers in the second half, and the Warhawk bench outscored the extras from Beloit 16-6 in the second twenty minutes. Whitewater increased its shooting efficiency, hitting 63% from the floor in the half on 15-24 from the field. The Warhawk defense held the Bucs to 42%, 13-31 from the floor.

Whitewater was 27-57 for a field goal shooting percentage of 47% in the game. Beloit was 29-58 for 50% from the field. The Bucs held the rebound advantage, 41-27. The Warhawks forced 22 turnovers, including 12 steals while committing just 10 turnovers of their own.

Young led the Warhawks with 17 points on 7-16 from the field, adding four steals. Luke Knoble (Boscobel/Boscobel) added 14 points and seven boards. Odegaard wrapped up the double digit scorers for UW-W with 13. 

Lazarcik led all players with 23 points on a perfect 10-10 from the floor while also contributing 15 rebounds for the double-double. Tyler Butke added 22 points and Steve Mcafee had 14 for the Bucs.

Whitewater will compete in the Carthage Classic Friday-Saturday, November 23-24. The Warhawks will open the classic with a 6:00 game against Aurora University Friday and will follow with a 2:00/4:00 game against the winner of Iowa Wesleyan and Carthage Saturday.


AK/tf