UW-Whitewater 78, UW-Stout 69
MENOMONIE (February 21, 2017) - UW-Stout twice came back from eight to 10 point deficits to pull to within one point, but the Blue Devils could not grab a lead and fell to UW-Whitewater, 78-69, Tuesday in Kachel Gymnasium in the first round of the WIAC Championship, presented by Culvers.
Stout (13-13) trailed 27-10 at 8:37 in the first half and pulled to within one, 33-32, at 3:23 only to fall behind 45-37 at halftime. Stout came back to trail again by one, 53-51, at 12:04, but that would be as close as the Blue Devils would get the the rest of the way.
The Warhawks' Demetrius Woodley led all scorers with 24 points, hitting 11-of-12 free throw shots as Whitewater (21-5) held a huge lead at the line. Whitewater drained 24-of-32 charity shots while Stout hit 6-of-9. Scotty Taylor added 17 points. Chris Jones scored 12 points and Derek Rongstad added 10.
John Lahti led Stout with 16 points and
John Keefe added 15 points and five assists.
Isaac Elliott scored 12 points and Branden Walbeck chipped in 11 points.
Both teams rank in the top 30 nationally in fewest turnovers, averaging around 11 turnovers per game. Both teams turned the ball over nine times apiece.
The Warhawks will compete in the WIAC semi-finals Thursday, Feb. 23 at UW-Oshkosh.
