The No. 3 ranked University of Wisconsin-Whitewater men's basketball team recovered nicely Saturday from its first loss of the season with a 64-53 non-conference victory at Trine to close out the two-day St. Andrews Products Classic in Angola, Ind.
 
One day after falling against Adrian (Mich.), the Warhawks (7-1 overall) trailed by as many as seven in the first half, but made a run late in the period and extended their lead in the second.
 
UW-Whitewater held the Thunder (3-5) to 32.8 percent shooting and converted 23-of-31 at the free-throw line to offset 33.3 percent shooting offensively.
 
Junior guard David Sachs (Highland Park, Ill./Highland Park) hit three 3-pointers on his way to a team-high 15 points, four rebounds and three assists. Junior guard Andre Brown (Kenosha, Wis./Indian Trail) finished with 13 points and six rebounds, and junior guard Dalton Menke (Rockford, Ill./Winnebago) posted nine points and five rebounds off the bench.
 
Senior guard Jerry Ngobi (Janesville, Wis./Janesville Craig) and junior guard Mitchell Pfeifer (Wales, Wis./Kettle Moraine) tallied seven points apiece, and sophomore forward Riley Jensen (Milton, Wis./Janesville Craig) grabbed a team-high eight rebounds.
 
Trine held seven-point leads of 12-5, 21-14 and 23-16 in the first 15 minutes of action. UW-Whitewater closed the half on a 15-3 run, including eight points on free throws, to take a 31-26 advantage into the locker room.
 
The Warhawks scored the first five points of the second half as Jensen capped the spurt with a dunk to give the team a 36-26 lead with 17:55 to play.
 
UW-Whitewater's advantage oscillated between seven and 11 points over the next 10 minutes. Menke gave the team its largest lead of the game at 53-41 with a 3-pointer at the six-minute mark.
 
The Thunder narrowed its deficit to six with three minutes to play, but Sachs hit a jumper and junior forward Derek Rongstad (Middleton, Wis./Middleton) and Menke hit a free throw apiece to bring the Warhawk lead back to 10 with 1:50 on the clock.
 
UW-Whitewater hit 6-of-6 from the line over the final 1:22 of regulation to ice the game away.
 
The Warhawks continue non-conference action Wednesday at 7 p.m. at Beloit.
 
Head coach Pat Miller
 
On the play of Riley Jensen (Milton, Wis./Janesville Craig):
"I thought he did a great job. He had eight rebounds and we out-rebounded them. That's been an issue for us so it was good for us to be on the right side. I was happy withhow physical he was. Hopefully that continues.
 
On the improvements made from Friday night's game:
"It was a much better night overall. I thought our movement offensively was better. We were able to get them chasing on the defensive end, and I thought that was the difference in the game."
 
On the team's larger distribution of minutes:
"It is nice tonight looking at the minutes. We played a lot more guys and that was a benefit for us. There've been games where guys haven't been ready to play. I thought Jerry Ngobi (Janesville, Wis./Janesville Craig) was great for us tonight. His minutes help us in the long run as we didn't have to play Andre Brown (Kenosha, Wis./Indian Trail) and David Sachs (Highland Park, Ill./Highland Park) as much."
 
On the team's 1-1 finish for the tournament:
"It was a tough trip. It was a tough stretch for us going to California and coming here. It's the most exciting place to be and there's not much to do, so it was tough to get guys ready to play, especially with final exams coming up. Tonight, the intensity was better, we ran the floor better and our guys were more engaged. We knew it would be tough playing them on their home floor."