The No. 25 ranked University of Wisconsin-Whitewater men's basketball team used steady second-half shooting and timely free throw shooting Wednesday night to defeat Wheaton (Ill.) 80-72 in a non-conference affair at Kachel Gymnasium.

Junior forward Cole Van Schyndel and freshman guard Andre Brown led the Warhawks (5-2 overall) with career nights.

One game after posting a career best 27 points in a two-point overtime win at Beloit on Saturday, Van Schyndel erupted for a career-high 29 points on 11-of-12 shooting from the floor and 7-of-8 from the free throw line. He tied a career best with 12 rebounds.

Brown tallied career highs of 15 points, seven rebounds and five assists, and shot 7-of-9 from the free throw line, all in the second half.

UW-Whitewater shot a season-best 53.3 percent from the field, including a 68.2 percent clip in the second half. The team held the Thunder (3-5) to 42.6 percent from the floor.

Freshman forward Maurquis Turner added 10 points, three rebounds and two steals in 16 minutes off the bench.

Junior guard Drew Bryson hit two of his three 3-pointers in the first five minutes of action to help the Warhawks jump out to a 13-5 advantage with 13:21 on the clock in the first half.

A 7-0 run by Wheaton cut the UW-Whitewater lead to one at the 10:43 mark, and the two teams stayed within four points of each other for the remainder of the half.

The Warhawks extended their one-point halftime lead to 35-27 just under two minutes into the second half thanks to a pair of Van Schyndel layups sandwiched around a 3-pointer by junior guar Ethan Guske.

After the Thunder tied the game at 51-51 midway through the period, UW-Whitewater retook control of the contest with a 7-0 run, started by five straight points from Van Schyndel and a layup by Brown.

Wheaton closed to within 69-67 with 2:43 remaining, but a layup by Brown and a 3-pointer by Turner made it a seven-point game with 1:32 left.

The Warhawks knocked down 6-of-8 from the free throw line over the final 1:03 of regulation to seal the win.

UW-Whitewater returns to action Dec. 20 at home against Concordia Chicago. Tipoff at Kachel Gymnasium is slated for 1 p.m.