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The University of Wisconsin-Whitewater men's basketball team is returning to the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Tournament Championship for the first time since 2015. The third-seeded Warhawks upset the number two seed UW-La Crosse 72-68 on their home court Friday night. UWW will head to Oshkosh to take on the top-seeded Titans in a battle for the league's automatic bid into the NCAA Division III Tournament Sunday at 1 pm. 

The Warhawks led by as much as 14 in the first half following a 14-2 run. In that spurt, Delvin Barnstable (Sheboygan, Wis./Sheboygan Lutheran) and Miles Barnstable (Sheboygan, Wis./Howards Grove) combined for three triples and Jameer Barker (Racine, Wis./St. Catherine's) capped the run with an old-fashioned three-point play that made it 24-10 with 11:02 on the clock. 

UW-La Crosse began chipping away at the lead, cutting it down to two before Miles Barnstable's (Sheboygan, Wis./Howards Grove) late three sent the teams into the locker room with UWW leading 37-32. 

UW-Whitewater never trailed the rest of the way but it was certainly a nail-biter at times. With under three minutes to go, the Eagles knocked down a jumper to pull within one, 61-60. Elijah Lambert (Racine, Wis./St. Catherine's) had the response for the Warhawks with a layup in the paint. After Carter Capstran (Franklin, Wis./Franklin) hauled in a defensive board, Miles Barnstable (Sheboygan, Wis./Howards Grove) went up for another three and was fouled. He hit all three from the charity stripe to push the lead back to six with 1:23 to go. 

The teams traded pairs of free throws before a fastbreak basket for the Eagles made it 68-64 with 27 seconds remaining. 

UWW came up empty on the offensive end and La Crosse capitalized drawing a foul and knocking down both free throws to pull within two, 68-66, with just eight seconds on the clock. 

The Barnstables iced the game at the free throw line in the final seconds. Delvin hit two with five seconds to go. UWL responded with a jumper as the Warhawks were careful not to foul. Miles was fouled immediately with less than a second to go and drained both from the charity stripe for the 72-68 final. 

Miles Barnstable (Sheboygan, Wis./Howards Grove) scored a game-high 22 bolstered by 4-9 from beyond the arc and 6-7 from the free throw line. Trevon Chislom (McFarland, Wis./McFarland) was 6-9 from the floor with 15 points. Barker added 11 while Delvin Barnstable (Sheboygan, Wis./Sheboygan Lutheran) dropped in 10 and led UWW with eight rebounds.