After defeating UW-River Falls last week on the road, the UW-Whitewater men’s basketball team fell 64-58 to the Falcons at home in the WIAC Championship game Sunday.

Although they suffered a loss, the ’Hawks still earned an automatic berth in the NCAA Tournament.

“We’re excited, we knew before the game that win or lose that we would be the one seed in the region, and there was no way that anyone would move ahead of us,” head coach Pat Miller said.

The Warhawks will host the first two rounds Friday and Saturday. The ’Hawks will face Northwestern College (Minn.) at 7:30 p.m. Friday. If they win Friday night, they will face the winner of the Claremont Mudd Scripps Colleges (Calif.)/University of Saint Thomas game at 7 p.m. Saturday.

The ’Hawks haven’t hosted the first two rounds since 2008, and Miller said that is a huge advantage for the team, especially if it plays in front of a large student crowd.

“I think it can be a great advantage, depending on the venue,” Miller said. “We had a nice crowd on Sunday, but it would be great to get a bigger, more animated student crowd. I think the crowd could really be the deciding factor.”

Tickets for the games are $8 for adults and $3 for students and youth, but businesses around Whitewater have purchased many tickets for the students. Call sports information for more information at 262-472-1147.

In the opening game of the WIAC Tournament against UW-La Crosse, Miller said he knew it would be a battle because the Eagles have been playing good defense as of late.

“The UW-La Crosse game was tough,” Miller said. “They are playing really well right now, one of the better defensive teams in the conference so I knew that would be a struggle for us, which it was, but we hung in there and got the win.”

After defeating the Eagles, the ’Hawks moved on to the championship to face the Falcons.

The ’Hawks played well in the first half, jumping out to a 34-26 lead, but a slow start in the second half was enough for the Falcons to capture their first ever WIAC title.

“The UW-River Falls game was a tale of two halves,” Miller said. “I thought we played fairly well in the first half. We shot the ball well and did a nice job of forcing turnovers. The second half we just got off to a bad start and I thought UW-River Falls played well. They shot the ball well.”