By Emily Leclair
Feb. 24, 2016
The UW-Whitewater men’s basketball team ended its regular season last week with a win against UW-Oshkosh on Feb. 17 and a loss to UW-Eau Claire on Feb. 20. The team will compete in the WIAC Tournament on Feb. 24, where it will face UW-River Falls in the first round.
“I think the team has a lot of confidence heading into the conference tournament and they’re confident they can beat anybody they play,” head coach Pat Miller said.
Junior forward Cole Van Schyndel led the ’Hawks against UW-O with 14 points and 10 rebounds, his second double-double of the season. Freshman guard Maurquis Turner followed with a career-high 12 points and eight rebounds.
Senior guard Haki Stampley and sophomore guard Nate Hensel added 10 points apiece.
UW-W shot 20-for-25 from the free-throw line and had an 11-4 lead within the first five minutes of the game.
Oshkosh and UW-W went back and forth before the ’Hawks claimed its largest lead of the game, 28-17, with an 11-1 run with five points coming from Turner.
UW-W headed into halftime with a seven-point lead, and never trailed by more than four points in the second half, going 8-for-10 from the free-throw line.
“We played more consistently defensively, it was a hard fought physical game,” Miller said.
The team ended its regular season against Eau Claire, losing 59-53.
“Just little mistakes here and there added up to the final score,” sophomore guard Jerry Ngobi said. “They’re all correctable mistakes.”
Prior to the game, UW-W and UW-EC were tied for fifth place in the conference.
The ’Hawks were led by senior forward Trinson White with 15 points, eight rebounds and six assists, while Stampley posted 13 points with three 3-pointers and Turner added 12 points.
UW-EC took the lead early in the game with a 5-0 run until Hansel made a layup to put Whitewater on the board with 17:50 remaining in the first half. UW-EC followed with a 9-2 run to lengthen the lead.
Turner hit his first 3-pointer of the game to get the ’Hawks within seven points, followed by the ’Hawks going on a 16-4 run to shorten the deficit to 26-24 at halftime.
UW-W maintained the lead for the first four minutes, but Eau Claire came back to tie the game with 16 minutes left to play.
Both teams went back and forth with six lead changes and three ties throughout the game. Free throws made by White gave the ’Hawks a one-point lead, but UW-EC had a 5-0 run to end the game and push UW-W to sixth place in the conference.
“The key for us is being more consistent for 40 minutes,” Miller said.
With a UW-Stevens Point loss to UW-La Crosse, the ’Hawks moved back up to fifth place in the conference.
The team heads into the WIAC Tournament on Feb. 24 in River Falls where it will face UW-River Falls in the first round of play.
UW-W has lost to River Falls both times the teams have matched up this year, the first time at home 75-70 and again on the road 73-68.
“The last few times we played them we were up by 20 and they came back and won those games,” Ngobi said. “It’s just being consistent throughout the whole game and having a solid effort to win that game.”
UW-RF and UW-W are ranked fourth and fifth, respectively, in the conference standings heading into the tournament.
“The one thing that’s clear with this team is when we shoot well we’re very good and when we don’t shoot well we struggle,” Miller said. “So we have to find some offensive consistency, especially shooting the basketball from the floor.”
