The men’s wheelchair basketball team won its second straight national championship last weekend, after facing the University of Illinois in the National Wheelchair Basketball Tournament Championship game for the fourth consecutive year.

The Warhawks, who had the No. 2 overall seed in the tournament, defeated the Fighting Illini by 41 points, 101-60, in the championship game Saturday afternoon.
“It’s pretty exciting to win a championship,” head coach Jeremy Lade said. “I can definitely confirm its hard to win a first one, but it’s really hard to win back-to-back.”
This gives the program its tenth title, including three in its last four years.
The ’Hawks took control of the game early building a 54-26 lead going into halftime.

Even though they dominated the game offensively, Lade said he is more impressed with his defense.
“Going into it, our teams focus was on the defensive end,” Lade said. “When people look at the box score they see what we did offensively, but I think holding an offensive team like [Illinois] to 60 points says something about our defensive efforts.”
The ’Hawks crushed the competition throughout the tournament, winning games by an average of 44 points.
Lade said, the team entered the tournament with a defensive mindset, and as a result it only gave up 49 points a game.
Lade also said he was impressed by the way the team took care of business offensively. In the three games played, the ’Hawks averaged 92 points.
“Our goals going into the whole weekend were on the defensive end,” Lade said. “We have a lot of talent on the offensive end and we have guys that can score so we weren’t worried about putting up points.”
In the championship game, junior Ben Kenyon had a game-high 35 points. Senior Andre Bienek said Kenyon stepped up offensively all tournament. Kenyon averaged a team-high 23 points per game throughout the tournament.
“He was unbelievable,” senior Andre Bienek said. “We know he can shoot threes and he’s proven that time and again, but he came out in the championship game and dominated. We just gave him the ball and let him do his thing.”
Lade said he was also impressed with freshman Derrick Bisnett, who averaged 22 points a game in the tournament.
“Derick Bisnett’s contribution in the tournament really stood out to me,” Lade said. “As a freshman, he just did a phenomenal job.”
Ending their careers with three national titles, seniors Chris Okon and Bienek leave UW-Whitewater on a high note.
“It feels just great. My career has been unbelievable,” Bienek said. “Growing with the team and evolving into a different person and player was just phenomenal and my career as a Warhawk was unforgettable.”
The ’Hawks improved greatly as the year went on, as they started the year 1-4. They finished the season 21-5.