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The University of Wisconsin-Whitewater men's basketball team used a suffocating defense and strong shooting on the offensive end Tuesday night on its way to a 72-49 win against UW-River Falls in the second round of the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Tournament (presented by Culver's) at Kachel Gymnasium.
 
With the victory, the fourth-seeded Warhawks (15-10 overall) advance to the tournament semifinals, where they'll visit No. 1 seed UW-Oshkosh Thursday at 7 p.m.
 
Elijah Lambert (Racine, Wis./St. Catherine's) tallied a career-high 25 points to go with six rebounds and four assists to lead UW-Whitewater, which shot 49.1 percent from the floor and held the Falcons (14-10) to 35.1 percent shooting. UW-W scored 22 points off UW-River Falls' 18 turnovers.
 
Trevon Chislom (McFarland, Wis./McFarland) registered 12 points and two steals, while Drew Fisher (Oconomowoc, Wis./Oconomowoc) collected nine points and six rebounds off the bench.
 
The two teams exchanged baskets over the first six-plus minutes of the contest before the Warhawks embarked on a 9-0 run, including a 3-pointer by Lambert and two layups from Chislom, for a 19-10 lead with 10:51 remaining in the first half.
 
The Falcons recorded the next five points, but UW-Whitewater responded with another 9-0 run, including two buckets from Fisher, to make it 28-15 with 5:49 on the clock.
 
Gray gave UW-W its largest lead of the half at the 3:13 mark as his jumper made it 34-19. UW-River Falls scored four of the last five points in the period to narrow the Warhawk lead to 35-24.
 
Neither team scored in the second half until the 16:16 mark, when a 3-point play by Jack Brahm (Bayside, Wis./Glendale Nicolet) gave UW-Whitewater a 38-24 advantage. The play was part of UW-W's 7-0 run to start the half.
 
The Warhawks' lead never dipped below 11 in the second half.
 
UW-Whitewater will make its 13th appearance in the WIAC Tournament semifinals since the tournament's inception in 1999. The winner of Thursday's game advances to Saturday's final at the highest remaining seed.
 
The Warhawks and UW-Oshkosh split a pair of meetings this season, including UW-W's narrow 48-46 loss against the Titans on Feb. 16.