UW-Whitewater, fifteenth in the D3hoops.com poll, took sole possession of second place in the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference with a 58-55 win over UW-Stout, in the "others receiving votes" of the same poll, in Kachel Gym of Williams Center in Whitewater, Wisconsin Saturday.  The teams came in with identical records, and UW-W emerged 14-3 overall and 7-2 in the WIAC.  Stout is 13-4 and 6-3.

UW-W's Luke Knoble scored the first basket of the game, but that was Whitewater's only lead of the first half.  Stout then ran off the next ten points, albeit over a span of over six minutes, to take a 10-2 lead on Josh Kosloske's layup at 12:56.  At 10:14 Erik Olson's free throw pushed the Blue Devil lead to eleven, 15-4, the largest of the half. 

Whitewater cut it back to five, 17-12 at on an Alex Merg jumper with 5:31 left in the half, but an 8-2 spurt by UW-S put the margin back to eleven, 25-14.  Stout led 26-17 at the half.

Although both teams struggled with their shooting eye in the first half, Whitewater hitting 26% and Stout 33%, the Blue Devils' work on the boards, where they had a 22-14 advantage, including ten offensive rebounds, was the key.  Included in the Stout shooting figures was a 4-9 mark from three point range, while Whitewater missed all nine of its long range attempts.

Trailing 31-22 in the second half, a 7-1 Whitewater run closed the gap to 32-29 on Darnell Harris' three with 14:13 left.  Harris hit another at 11:32 to give Whitewater its first lead since Merg's initial basket of the game. 

The teams stayed neck and neck for several minutes, but the Warhawk lead eventually reached 54-49 on a Knoble free throw with 3:24 left.  And a Harris free throw with 1:10 gave UW-W a 57-51 advantage, the largest of the game for the Warhawks. 

"Largest" being a relative term, as Stout guard Chris Hortman three pointer with 0:44 left, after Jarvis Ragland had gathered another offensive rebound for the Blue Devils, made it 57-54.  On the next Whitewater possession Stout fouled with 0:24 left, but Whitewater missed both free throws.  Stout guard Alex Oman drove to the basket, missed the layin, but was fouled.  Oman made one of the two, inching the Blue Devils within 57-55 with ten seconds remaining.  Stout fouled KJ Evans on the inbounds, and with nine seconds left Evans made it 58-55 with one of two at the line.  The Warhawk defense slowed UW-S up the floor got off a long, difficult three point attempt as the clock ran out.

Whitewater's shooting improved in the second half, up to 63% for the second twenty minutes and 45% for the game.  Stout only shot 34% for the game, but continued to dominate the glass with a 37-26 advantage, including 17 offensive boards.  After going 0-9 from three point range in the first half, UW-W made 6-12 threes in the second.  The teams combined for 54 free throw attempts (18-31 for Whitewater, 14-23 for Stout).

Freshman forward Darnell Harris , 0-4 from the floor and 0-3 on three point shots in the first half, hit 5-7 shots -- including 5-6 threes, in the second half for UW-W.  Harris led both teams with 16 points and nine rebounds.  Evans added 12 points and guard Eric Bryson ten.  Point guard Alex Merg dished out a game high six assists.  The backcourt duo of Oman and Hortman had 13 apiece for UW-S, with Hortman also grabbing eight rebounds, one behind teammate Jarvis Ragland's team high nine. 

UW-W will visit WIAC leader UW-Stevens Point Wednesday.  The next home game for the Warhawks will be Wednesday, January 30 at 7:00, with UW-La Crosse visiting Kachel Gym in Williams Center.