Blue Devils sweep Warhawks to close out regular season

UW-Stout 87, UW-Whitewater 80

MENOMONIE (February 26, 2021) – Luke Geiger scored eight of his team-high 25 points in the first five minutes of the game and UW-Stout went on to sweep UW-Whitewater 87-80 Friday at Johnson Fieldhouse.
 
Geiger hit two 3-pointers and a bucket over the first five minutes of the game and Stout (3-5) built up a 10 point 17-7 lead  by the time Geiger sat down at 14:14. In a mostly fast-paced game, Stout would keep the Warhawks had an arm's pace, only to see Whitewater close the gap.
  Whitewater cut the gap to 23-19 at 9:40, but Josh Mericle hit a 3-pointer to extend the lead. Stout's lead would vary between eight and five points before Whitewater would cut the lead to one point, 35-34 on back-to-back 3-pointers by Gage Malensek. 

Back-to-back steals and subsequent layups by Geiger and Armani TInsley gave Stout 43-36 lead with 16 seconds left, but Derek Gray cut the lead to four points with a 3-pointer just before the buzzer and Stout held a 43-39 halftime lead.

It was more of the same in the second half, only the score was tighter throughout the half. Stout held an eight-point, 55-47 lead at 14:55. Whitewater took their only leads of the game late in the second half, 72-71, at 5:25 and 76-75 at 4:10. A 3-pointer by Lovell Williams gave Stout the lead back, 78-76. The Warhawks tied the score at 80 apiece on a Malensek layup with 1:40 remaining. That would prove to be Whitewater's last points of the night.
 

The Blue Devils would respond. Geiger nailed a 3-pointer, Armani Tinsley dropped in a pair of free throws and Geiger closed out the scoring with two free throws. Tinsley and Geiger were both perfect from the line, Tinsley hit all six of his attempts and Geiger made all four. 
 
Stout got 15 points from Jon Ciriacks, 12 points from Armani Tinsley and 11 points from Marcus Hill.
 
The Warhawks (1-6) were led by Malensek's game-high 34 points. Dayne Armwald added 14 points, Breontae Hunt 12 and Trevon Chislom 10.

  Both teams took advantage at the free throw line. Whitewater made 23 of 29 charity shots, while Stout shot a season-best 91.7 percent, hitting 22 of 24 from the line. From the floor, Whitewater shot 44.6 percent (25-56) and hit seven 3-pointers. Stout shot 41.4 percent (29-70) from the floorand made seven 3-pointers. 
 
Stout out-rebounded the Warhawks 47-32. Marcus Hill collected nine rebounds for Stout. TYreese Alexander and Geiger each had five boards. 
 
The win was the first time Stout swept Whitewater in a single season since the 2006 season; the first time Stout won three straight over the Warhawks since winning their last two games against Whitewater during the 2000-01 season and winning their first game against the Warhawks in the 2001-02 season; Stout first conference win in Johnson Fieldhouse since Feb. 7, 2018, when Stout defeated UW-River Falls; and the first time Stout has won in Johnson Fieldhouse since Dec. 21, 2018 when they beat Northland College.
 
Stout will play at UW-Oshkosh, Monday, March 1 in the first round of the WIAC Championship, sponsored by Culver's at 2 p.m.