Warhawks lose battle in regular season finale
Sophomore guard Gage Malensek aims to make a move toward the basket in the home game against the University of Wisconsin – Oshkosh Jan. 16, 2022.
February 20, 2022
The UW-Whitewater men’s basketball team (14-10, 7-6 WIAC) finished its season with a matchup against their bitter rivals the UW-Oshkosh Titans (20-3, 10-2 WIAC), Wednesday Feb. 16 in Kachel Gymnasium. The Titans, who have earned a No. 3 national ranking this season, ultimately came out victorious 48-46 in a defensive battle.
The Warhawks lost the turnover battle 16-8, but were able to outscore Oshkosh in points off turnovers 13-12.
“They just had us off-balance. It was a good learning experience for our team. I thought that was probably the highest level game we played in, in terms of intensity and in terms of the technical aspects of the game. Our takeaway has to be, we did a good job playing hard, and battling, and being physical but we just have to do a better job basketball-wise, executing,” Head Coach Pat Miller said.
The Warhawks were able to stay in the game with great energy on the defensive end the entire game, which made up for some of the mistakes. They were able to out rebound the Titans 42-35 despite having a slight height disadvantage. After many possessions the Warhawks wanted the ball more.
“We need to learn from our mistakes in this game, and just keep getting better each practice,” said guard/ forward Elijah Lambert, who scored a team-high 11 points for the team.
The Warhawks enter the WIAC conference tournament as the four seed, finishing with a 7-6 conference record. They will host a playoff game at Kachel Gymnasium, Tuesday Feb. 22 at 7 p.m.
