The University of Wisconsin-Whitewater men's basketball team fell to UW-River Falls, 79-68, in the first round of the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletics Conference tournament Wednesday night in River Falls, Wis.

UW-Whitewater concludes the 2017-18 season with a 16-10 record.

UW-River Falls (17-8 overall) shot 58.3 percent from the floor in the contest compared to 38.3 percent shooting from the Warhawks.

Junior guard Derek Rongstad (Middleton, Wis./Middleton) lead UW-Whitewater and posted a career-high 34 points and nine rebounds.  Junior guard Mitchell Pfeifer (Wales, Wis./Kettle Moraine) added 13 points and six rebounds and sophomore forward Riley Jensen (Milton, Wis./Janesville Craig) tallied seven points and four rebounds.

At 16:21 in the first half, junior guard David Sachs (Highland Park, Ill./Highland Park) found Jensen inside to tie the game for the Warhawks at 7-7. 

UW-River Falls answered with a 14-6 run and took the lead 21-13 with 12:51 remaining in the period.

The Falcons extended its lead to 18, but UW-Whitewater answered with a 3-pointer from Rongstad to make the score 33-18 with just under eight minutes remaining in the half.

The Warhawks went on an 8-3 run with under five minutes in the first half that included baskets from Pfeifer, junior forward Maurquis Turner (Milwaukee, Wis./King) and Rongstad to cut UW-River Falls lead to nine.

A jumper from Rongstad at the end of the half left the score at 45-33 in favor of UW-River Falls.

UW-Whitewater hit back-to-back 3-pointers from Pfeifer and Rongstad to start the second half and climb within eight of the Falcons.

At 13:54, Sachs recorded a 3-point play to make the score 57-49 in favor of UW-River Falls.

Sachs found junior guard Dalton Menke (Rockford, Ill./Winnebago) for a 3-pointer to bring the Warhawks within five at 52-57.

Less than a minute later at 12:18, Sachs finished a basket inside to bring UW-Whitewater within three points.

The Warhawks continued to close in on the Falcons with a free throw from Rongstad at 9:40 to make the score 59-57 in favor of UW-River Falls.

At 7:02 remaining in the game, Rongstad pulled down the offensive board and finished the basket inside to keep UW-River Falls lead at 62-60.

With just under five minutes remaining in the contest Turner drained a free throw to bring the Warhawks with in one of the Falcons at 64-63, which was the closest they would get for the remainder of the game.

A free throw from Rongstad with 10 seconds remaining accounted for the final margin.

Despite UW-Whitewater out-rebounding UW-River Falls 40-25, including 21 offensive rebounds, the Warhawks shot 34.6 percent behind the arc compared to 44.4 percent from the Falcons.