The No. 25 ranked University of Wisconsin-Whitewater men's basketball team used steady second-half shooting and timely free throw shooting Wednesday night to defeat Wheaton (Ill.) 80-72 in a non-conference affair at Kachel Gymnasium.
 
Junior forward Cole Van Schyndel (Kaukauna, Wis./Wrightstown) and freshman guard Andre Brown (Kenosha, Wis./Indian Trail) led the Warhawks (5-2 overall) with career nights.
 
One game after posting a career best 29 points in a two-point overtime win at Beloit on Saturday, Van Schyndel erupted to tie it with 29 points on 11-of-12 shooting from the floor and 7-of-8 from the free throw line. He also posted a career-best 12 rebounds.
 
Brown tallied career highs of 15 points, seven rebounds and five assists, and shot 7-of-9 from the free throw line, all in the second half.
 
UW-Whitewater shot a season-best 53.3 percent from the field, including a 68.2 percent clip in the second half. The team held the Thunder (3-5) to 42.6 percent from the floor.
 
Freshman forward Maurquis Turner (Milwaukee, Wis./King) added 10 points, three rebounds and two steals in 16 minutes off the bench.
 
Junior guard Drew Bryson (Elkhorn, Wis./Elkhorn) hit two of his three 3-pointers in the first five minutes of action to help the Warhawks jump out to a 13-5 advantage with 13:21 on the clock in the first half.
 
A 7-0 run by Wheaton cut the UW-Whitewater lead to one at the 10:43 mark, and the two teams stayed within four points of each other for the remainder of the half.
 
The Warhawks extended their one-point halftime lead to 35-27 just under two minutes into the second half thanks to a pair of Van Schyndel layups sandwiched around a 3-pointer by junior guard Ethan Guske (Sheboygan, Wis./North).
 
After the Thunder tied the game at 51-51 midway through the period, UW-Whitewater retook control of the contest with a 7-0 run, started by five straight points from Van Schyndel and a layup by Brown.
 
Wheaton closed to within 69-67 with 2:43 remaining, but a layup by Brown and a 3-pointer by Turner made it a seven-point game with 1:32 left.
 
The Warhawks knocked down 6-of-8 from the free throw line over the final 1:03 of regulation to seal the win.
 
UW-Whitewater returns to action Dec. 20 at home against Concordia Chicago. Tipoff at Kachel Gymnasium is slated for 1 p.m.