There may be no such thing as a free lunch, but fourteenth ranked UW-Whitewater believes in free throws.  UW-W, 20-4 overall and 12-3 in the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference, went 26-32 from the free throw line to defeat UW-Oshkosh 75-58 in Oshkosh Wednesday and clinch a bye in the first round of the conference tournament.  The Titans, 7-17, and 2-13 in the league, went 6-9 at the line.

UW-W had a 6-5 lead early in the first half, but Oshkosh controlled the game for the next ten minutes.  The Titans built five point leads twice, first with the score 17-12 at 9:37 on a three point play by sophomore forward Josh Hopfensperger, and again at 21-16 with 7:28 on a layup by sophomore forward Paul Volkman and the score 21-16. 

The Warhawks pulled back into a tie, 25-25, on a three-pointer by Patrick Souter (Racine/St. Catherine's) at 4:16.  Darnell Harris (Milwaukee/Hamilton) followed with a jumper at 3:27 to give UW-W its first lead since the 6-5 score early in the half.  Two free throws from Quardell Young (Kenosha/Bradford) made it 29-25.  A layup by Souter at 2:12, and a free throw by Souter with 1:26 left closed out the scoring with Whitewater in front 32-25.

Oshkosh shot 44% from the floor and Whitewater 37% in the first half, but the Warhawks made a living on the boards and on the line.  UW-W out-rebounded the Titans 23-11, and hit 10-13 foul shots to 1-2 for UW-O.  UW-W's Luke Knoble (Boscobel/Boscobel) led all scorers with nine points, with KJ Evans (Beloit/Beloit) contributing six rebounds.

UW-W reached a double digit lead, 48-48 at 13:25 on a pair of free throws by KJ Evans (Beloit/Beloit).  The Warhawks pushed the margin to 12 points three times in the second half.  Oshkosh never got the lead to less than eight, and as the Titans tried to stop the clock with fouls the Warhawks hit their free throws to make the score their largest lead of the game.

Both teams shot 45% in the game, both had 15 turnovers, and Whitewater had one more three.  But then there was that twenty point bulge at the charity stripe.  

UW-W, which has five players averaging between nine and twelve points per game, echoed that balance Wednesday.  KJ Evans (Beloit/Beloit) had a season high 12 points to lead the Warhawks.  Souter, Young, Harris and Eric Bryson (Elkhorn/Elkhorn) all contributed 11 points, with Evans leading both teams with nine rebounds.  UW-O freshman guard Alex Olsen topped all scorers with 14 points, with freshman forward Andre Wallace adding ten.  Olsen had six rebounds and four assists for the Titans, as did senior guard Sean Wise.

UW-W will close the regular season at home, hosting UW-River Falls Saturday at 4:00 in Kachel Gym in Williams Center.