Box Score RIVER FALLS, Wis. (uwrfsports.com) - The UW- River Falls men's basketball team (9-5, 3-0 WIAC) roared back from a 10 point halftime deficit and defeated the number 14 ranked UW- Whitewater Warhawks on the road by a score of 75-70.
The first half started off with a 14-4 run to open the game with Cole Van Schyndel scoring six of the points. The Warhawks first half lead grew to as much as 15 points in the first half. The Falcons used a 9-2 run and a 7-0 run to trim it to four points, but Whitewater got the lead back to 10 at halftime. The Warhawks shot 17-32 (53.1 percent) in the first half, and the Falcons shot 13-35 (37.1 percent) from the floor.
The second half proved to flip the script of the first half with the Falcons coming out with the hot hand.
Garret Pearson scored 14 second half points on 6-7 shooting. The Falcons still trailed by 10 points with 13:35 to go in the game before a quick 7-0 run trimmed the score to 47-44 with 12:06 to go in the game.
Whitewater responded and scored the next four points. The two teams exchanged buckets for the next five minutes before 58-53 the Falcons went on 6-0 run to take a 59-58 lead for the Falcons first lead of the entire game with 7:02 to go.
The Warhawks quickly took back the led 68-65 with 2:45 to go in the game. The Falcons got a free throw from senior
Jon Christensen and after a Whitewater miss, Pearson nailed a three pointer to take the lead 69-68 with 47 seconds to go in the game.
UWRF suffocated the Warhawks and senior
Jack Herum stole the ball and called a timeout with 27 seconds to go. A foul by the Warhawks led to two Christensen free throws. UW- Whitewater then missed on the ensuing possession and junior guard
Grant Erickson iced the game with two free throws with 16 seconds to go to give the Falcons a five point lead.
The Falcons shot 16-28 (57.1 percent) from the floor in the second half led by Pearson's 14 points. Christensen scored all 12 of his points in the second half on 3-7 shooting and made 5-6 free throws.
Connor Goodwin scored nine points off the bench for the Falcons. Brennen Witt also came of the bench and scored eight points on 4-5 shooting.
CJ Lewis scored seven points and Herum finished with six points.
For the entire game, the Falcons and the Warhawks both shot 29-63 (46 percent) from the floor. Both teams made seven three point shots. UWRF shooting 7-16 (43.8 percent) and Whitewater shooting 7-24 (29.2 percent). The only difference in shots for the night between the two teams was the Falcons going 10-13 (76.9 percent) from the free throw line and the Warhawks going 5-9 (55.6 percent) from the charity stripe.
The Falcons turned the ball over just two times in the game, and forced 13 Whitewater turnovers. The Falcons two turnovers is the least amount of turnovers in a game since January 22, 2014 against UW- Superior.
The Falcons are 3-0 in the WIAC for the second straight year, and next faceoff against UW- Eau Claire on January 16 which will be played in Eau Claire at 5 p.m. The Falcons trail the all-time series 109-86. The Falcons went 2-1 against the Blugolds last season.
