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Whitewater men win WIAC tournament title

WHITEWATER — Playing its fifth game in 10 days was supposed to be the point where UW-Whitewater’s men’s basketball team finally ran out of gas.

But when UW-Stevens Point ran onto the Kachel Gym floor Saturday night, Whitewater quickly forget about being tired.

Myles McKay and Kori Vernon each had 20 points, while Matt Goodwin returned from a concussion to add 13, and Kevin Koski scored to lead No. 1 seed Whitewater to its second men’s WIAC tournament championship in three years, 75-51, over No. 3 Stevens Point.

With the victory, Whitewater (24-4) receives an automatic bid into the NCAA Division III tournament. The tournament pairings will be announced at 11 a.m. Monday.

“It was a big game playing for the championship, and we had nothing to lose, and we just wanted to get them (Point) back from before said,” said Koski, whose team was embarrassed 76-47 two weeks ago at Stevens Point.

Meanwhile, Stevens Point (22-6) will eagerly wait to see if it can wrap up an at-large bid Monday morning.

Whitewater sealed Point’s fate with a 14-1 second-half run and led 55-41 with 10 minutes left.

But the Pointers spent the last portion of the game cutting into Whitewater’s lead. Matt Moses’ layup with 17 seconds left cut the Point deficit to 70-68.

Stevens Point quickly fouled Billy Kolinske, who calmly made both free throws to open a 72-68 with 16.2 seconds left.

Steve Hicklin quickly hit a three-pointer to slice the deficit to 72-71 with 10 seconds left.

McKay was fouled on the ensuing possession and made two more free throws to give Whitewater a 74-71 lead with :08.9 left.

Khalifa El-Amin stormed down the court on the ensuing Point possession, but missed a long-three-pointer that sailed out of bounds to seal the Whitewater victory.

“People act as if it was some great accomplishment to win without starters,” Warhawk coach Pat Miller said. “But our bench players are good players.”

Janesville Craig graduate Josh King and Goodwin’s return didn’t hurt Whitewater’s cause, either.

“It was great to get Matt Goodwin back tonight,” Koski said. “He is a big part of our offense, and he is our best defender, and Josh is a senior that we just need on the court to play defense and rebound.’’

Stevens Point certainly wasn’t fazed by King and Goodwin’s return. The Pointers used a 10-2 run to grab a 21-20 lead midway through the first half.

Point finished the first half shooting 68 percent from the field, but still fell behind after Goodwin and McKay drained consecutive three-pointers to give their team a 37-34 halftime lead.

“I felt pretty good at halftime,” Miller said. “We forced some of their role players to hit shots, which we could live with.”

Hicklin paced the Pointers with 20 points, while El-Amin had 15 and Hurd added 10.