Box Score UW-Whitewater closed the regular season with its seventh straight win, a 72-69 decision over UW-River Falls Saturday in the Kachel Gym in Williams Center in Whitewater.  UW-W, 21-4 overall and second in the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference with a 13-3 record, will host a WIAC Tournament semifinal game Thursday at 7:00.  The Warhawks will play the highest remaining seeds after Tuesday's quarterfinal games that match UW-Stout and UW-Superior, and UW-La Crosse and UW-Platteville.

Box Score

feature photo of Alex Merg (Greendale/Greendale) by Bob Mischka (Mischka's Smugmug site)
photo gallery courtesy of Jenny DuPuis/Bob Mischka (available for purchase)
photo gallery of 1973 championship team recognition (courtesy of Leah Thyne)

UW-Whitewater did not trail in the first half. Luke Knoble (Boscobel/Boscobel) made it 2-0 with a layup at 18:55. The Warhawks never looked back. A Darnell Harris (Milwaukee/Hamilton) 3-pointer at 10:05 gave the Warhawks their first double digit lead, 21-11. Whitewater's lead reached fifteen, 31-16 on an Eric Bryson (Elkhorn/Elkhorn) 3 with 4:35 left in the half. The Warhawks went into halftime with a 37-27 lead.

Whitewater out-rebounded the Falcons 23-10, with Harris leading both teams with six boards. The Warhawks also went 5-13 from beyond the arc, to 2-5 for UW-RF. Bryson led all scores in the half with 13 points, hitting 5-7 field goals, including 3-4 on 3 pointers.

UW-W still had a ten point lead, 48-38, at the 15:21 mark in the second half.  With sophomore guard David Stanley and sophomore guard Taylor Peterson scoring five points apiece, the Falcons ran off a 10-0 spurt to tie the game 48-48 with 12:12 on the clock. 

The Falcons edged in front 51-50 on David Berthene's three pointer at 11:14.  Berthene followed with a jumper at 8:51 to make it 53-50, the Falcons' largest lead of the game. 

The lead exchanged hands five times over the next four minutes, with UW-W clinging to a 62-60 lead at 2:34.  Quardell Young (Kenosha/Bradford)'s free throw with 0:44 left put the Warhawks in front 67-62.  Sophomore guard Arik Smith scored on a layup at 0:29 to narrow Whitewater's lead to 67-64.  Patrick Souter (Racine/St. Catherine's) restored the five point margin with two free throws with 0:23 left.  Just three seconds later Smith hit a pair of free throws to make it 69-66 Whitewater.  With 0:18 showing Young went 1-2 at the line for a 70-66 lead.  Smith, again, came back for the Falcons, hitting a three pointer with twelve seconds left, to pull River Falls within one, 70-69.  The Falcons fouled the inbounds pass, and Whitewater's Eric Bryson (Elkhorn/Elkhorn) hit both free throws to make it 72-69 with nine seconds showing on the clock.  Smith got off a desperation shot, eight to ten feet from a right angle beyond the three point line, missed.

Everything in the team statistics mirrors the result.  The slight difference, more important in a close game, came at the line where UW-W was 20-26 and UW-RF was 14-16. 

Bryson led Whitewater with 17 points, with Harris adding 15 and Young 14.  Harris shared game honors with nine rebounds, and Alex Merg (Greendale/Greendale)'s five assists led both teams.   Smith took game scoring honors with 21 points and added three steals.  Senior center Zach Peterson contributed 16 points and Berthene had 12.  Peterson also grabbed nine rebounds.







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