Column by Justin St. Peter

Feb. 17, 2016

This is a clear message to all WIAC teams. Do not sleep on the Warhawks. After an up-and-down year that saw a massive amount of turnover from last year’s WIAC Championship roster, the ’Hawks are getting hot at exactly the right time.

After going 2-0 in the past week, the ’Hawks now have a three-game win-streak and are a victory away from clinching a spot in the WIAC tournament. The ’Hawks reside in fifth place in conference (15-8, 6-6 in WIAC).

Unlike previous years where UW-Stevens Point and UW-W were neck-and-neck for both the WIAC and National Championships, both teams sit on the outside of the conference race and most likely need to win the conference title to make the field of 64.

Head coach Pat Miller, who was two national championships in the past five years, has repeatedly said this season that the young team is working extremely hard to make up for its lack of experience.

The Warhawks have four seniors currently on the roster, but neither of them have been with the program for all four years.

“I think it’s just a function of the number of four-year players we lost last year and the year prior to that,” Miller said. “We have had two consecutive years where we have seen higher graduation losses. We are in as much of a rebuilding phase as we typically have been in. It’s unusual, but hopefully we are building for better years in the future.”

One of those seniors, guard Trinson White has consistently stepped up throughout the year. Starting freshman point guard Andre Brown went down with an ankle injury and has missed the last two games, but the ’Hawks have not missed a beat.

The ’Hawks offense exploded when White slid over to the point guard role and led the ’Hawks to a 104-86 road win against UW-Platteville on Feb. 10.

“He had a great game and made very good decisions and ended up with 27 points, attempted 10 free throws and also had 10 assists,” Miller said. “In that game, it was a very good adjustment offensively.”

White added seven rebounds to nearly complete a triple-double while fellow senior guard Haki Stampley poured in 23 points and five rebounds.

Junior forward Cole Van Schyndel added 16 points and eight assists, while freshman guard/forward Mitchell Pfeifer added 10 points and six rebounds off the bench.

The ’Hawks then came home to beat the UW-Stout Blue Devils 83-70 on Feb. 13.

Stampley led all scorers with 24 points and eight rebounds, while White almost tallied another triple-double with 18 points, 10 rebounds, and eight assists.

Van Schyndel had 16 points in back-to-back games to go along with six rebounds.

After leading by as much as 18 in the second half, the ’Hawks were perfectly content to come out on top by 13.

“It was nice to see in the second half that we came out and extended the lead,” Miller said. “It was more of a consistent effort Saturday.”

The ’Hawks will need more of that consistent effort as the ’Hawks are basically in a must-win situation the rest of the way.

If that consistent effort materializes, the rest of the WIAC should be put on watch because the Warhawks are the resilient, confident team that no team wants to play with its season on the line.