St. Louis, Mo., December 2, 2011 — Freshman Brayden Teuscher poured in a career-high 23 points on 7-of-11 shooting to lead the Washington University in St. Louis men's basketball team to a 84-72 victory over Whittier College on Friday night in the 28th Annual Lopata Classic in St. Louis, Mo.

Washington University (4-2) advances to the Lopata Classic championship game to take on No. 1 ranked and unbeaten Augustana College on Saturday, Dec. 3, at 8 p.m. Augustana defeated Wisconsin Lutheran College, 74-46, in the first game of the Classic. Washington U. improved to 49-6 all-time in the Lopata Classic, and has won 25-straight games dating back to the 1998 Lopata Classic.

Senior Alex Toth recorded the third double-double of his career with a season-high 15 points and 10 rebounds, while senior Dylan Richteradded 14 points and five boards. The Bears shot 43.5 percent (30-69) from the field and hit 20-of-29 (69 percent) from the foul line. Washington U. outscored Whittier 42-14 in bench points and 18-10 in second-chance points.

Washington University kept the high-scoring attack of Whittier in check in the first half, and had a five-point lead (14-9) with 12:25 left in the first half following a three-pointer by Teuscher. A put-back by Teuscher and a pair of free-throw by sophomore Alan Aboona extended the advantage to 20-14. Aboona had six points in the first half on 6-of-6 shooting from the foul line.

Whittier (2-2) cut the lead to two following a pair of baskets, but a 9-0 run by the Bears pushed the lead to double figures at 29-18 with 6:22 to play. Toth took over in the final 5:18 of the first half scoring 10 points on 4-of-4 shooting from the field. He finished with 14 points and six rebounds as the Bears held at 42-28 lead at intermission.

Washington U. shot 42.9 percent (15-35) in the first half, and committed just seven turnovers against the full-court press of Whittier. Richter added nine points and Teuscher chipped in with eight. The Bears outrebounded Whittier, 27-17, and turned in 11 offensive rebounds into eight second-chance points.

Senior Tim Cooney scored the first six points of the second half as Washington U. extended its advantage to 48-32. Whittier would not go away as an 8-0 run cut the lead to 48-40 and forced a full-timeout by Washington U. head coach Mark Edwards. Following the timeout, Teuscher canned a three-pointer to get the lead to back to double digits.

Another three-pointer by Teuscher, a break-away dunk by Richter and a pair of foul shots by Aboona got the lead to 60-44 with 12:23 remaining. Teuscher would surpass his career-high with a pair of free-throws with 8:48 remaining, and then recorded a three-point play with 5:37 to play to go over the 20-point mark for the first time in his career.

Drew Menez led the Poets with 22 points on 9-of-17 shooting, while Nathan Eastern (15 points), Willie Membane (10 points) and Greg Preer (10) also scored in double figures. Whittier entered the contest averaging 91.7 points per game, including 115 in its previous game.

Bear Notebook: The Bears are 134-17 (.887) at the WU Field House since the 2000-01 season … Washington U. has won all three meetings between the two teams … Teuscher leads Washington U. averaging 14.8 points per game off the bench.