Stout stays with No. 2 Warhawks, tipped by Warhawks late, 86-77

UW-Whitewater 86, UW-Stout 77 | Archived Video | Photo Gallery |

MENOMONIE (February 21, 2015) - UW-Stout fought hard in their final game of the season, but the D3 Hoops.com No. 2 ranked UW-Whitewater proved to be too much and the final buzzer sounded with UW-Whitewater on top 86-77. Jarvis Ragland (Sr, Milwaukee) was just four points shy of his career high, scoring 22 points and grabbing nine rebounds in his final career game for the Blue Devils.

 

Stout (3-22, 0-16 WIAC) came out shooting, going on a 7-2 run to open up the game, but UW-Whitewater (22-3, 15-1 WIAC) soon went on a 9-0 run to take a four point, 11-7 lead with 15 minutes left in the half. The Blue Devils kept it close, both teams produces 11 lead changes and four ties in the first half. At one point, Stout had a five point, 26-21 lead on Whitewater, but the Warhawks finished the half on an 8-1 run, making it a 43-36 Whitewater lead at halftime.

Whitewater's hot shooting continued in the second half, opening up the second half on a 9-2 run to produce a 14 point, 52-38 lead against the Blue Devils. Stout later cut the lead to five points around the 13 minute mark on a jump shot from Mac Oreskovic (Fr, Antigo), but this was the closest they'd get to the Warhawks. Whitewater finished the second half shooting 58 percent from the field, while Stout shot only 48 percent from the field. The final buzzer ended with a score of 86-77, Whitewater on top.

Whitewater finished with four men in double digit scoring, KJ Evans had 21, Rahjan Muhammad 18, Cody Odegaard 17 and Steve Egan 15. Quardell Young also added eight points of his own, while also dishing out 13 assists for the Warhawks.

Stout played well in their last game of the season, draining a season high 13 3-pointers, going 47 percent from the arc, and 8-10 from the free throw line. Ragland played a great game, once again scoring 22 points, and grabbing nine boards for the Blue Devils. Isaac Elliot (Fr, Stevens Point) scored 11 points, while John Lahti (Fr, Turtle Lake) added 10 points and two assists for Stout.

Whitewater earned a share of the WIAC regular season title along with UW-Stevens Point. Both finished with 15-1 conference records, splitting their regular season games. The Warhawks won a coin-flip as the tie-breaker and will be the No. 1 seed. Whitewater will have first round bye and will host their first game of the WIAC tournament Thursday Feb. 26.