The No. 8 UW-Whitewater men's basketball team defeated UW-Eau Claire (9-10 overall, 1-7 WIAC), 75-59, in a Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference matchup at Kachel Gymnasium Saturday evening.
The Warhawks sank 12 3-pointers and shot 57.1 percent behind the arc in the game in the victory compared to 40 percent (2-of-5) behind the arc from UW-Eau Claire.
Junior guard Derek Rongstad led the Warhawks with 16 points and four assists. Junior guards David Sachs and Dalton Menke both tallied 12 points and junior Marquis Turner added 11 points.
UW-Whitewater (15-4 overall, 5-3 WIAC) sank seven of their 12 3-pointers in the first half. The Warhawks took their first lead of the game at the 16:17 mark with a 3-pointer by Menke from Turner.
The Warhawks continued to extend the lead in the half. Sachs drained a jumper to give UW-Whitewater a 13-point lead with 2:58 remaining in the period.
A dunk by Brown at the end of the half gave the Warhawks a 40-30 lead.
UW-Whitewater continued its hot shooting in the second half, hitting on 47.8 percent of its from the floor.
Turner sank a 3-pointer at 9:39 in the second half to extend the Warhawk lead to 61-49.
Sachs tallied a pair of free throws with less than six minutes remaining in the contest to give UW-Whitewater a 15-point lead.
With less than a minute left in play, freshman guard Shannon Sanford Jr. took it to the basket and finished the layup to account for the final margin.
The Warhawks forced 17 turnovers by UW-Eau Claire and tallied 14 points off the turnovers. UW-Whitewater shot 54 percent from the floor in the game to help secure the victory.
UW-Whitewater will travel to UW-Stevens Point Wednesday, Jan. 31, at 7 p.m. for a conference matchup.