Box Score

WHITEWATER - In a back-and-forth battle of two teams in the nation's top-five, the fifth-ranked Warhawks of UW-Whitewater came out on top in overtime, defeating the third-ranked Pointers 80-78 in Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (WIAC) men's basketball action Saturday afternoon.

After ten lead changes and five ties in the first half, UW-Whitewater closed out the half on an 8-0 run to jump ahead by five, 31-26.

In the second half, the back-and-forth battle continued as the Pointers chipped away at the Warhawk lead, taking their first lead at the 11:31 mark of the first half, as Pete Rortvedt (Minocqua/Lakeland) (Minocqua) connected on a three-point basket, putting the Pointers ahead 45-44.

Down the stretch both teams battled until the score was again tied at 62 apiece. UWSP then built a five point lead, 67-62, on back-to-back buckets from Rortvedt and Matt Moses (Fond du Lac/St. Mary Springs) (Fond du Lac). The Pointers held their lead until Myles McKay connected on a free-throw with :21 remaining to again tie the score.

With :04 on the clock, Rortvedt's three-pointer was on line but did not go down, forcing the second overtime game between the two teams.

After the Warhawks built a four-point lead in overtime, the Pointers fought back to take a one point lead, 78-77, thanks to an Khalifa El-Amin (Milwaukee/Rufus King) (Milwaukee) layup with :38 seconds remaining. With the clock winding down, McKay missed a layup with five seconds left but the Warhawks' Tyson Kingsby connected on a shot from three-point land to give the two-point edge to Whitewater with just two seconds remaining.

A desperation shot by Beamish as the buzzer sounded was off the mark, as Whitewater recorded the victory.

El-Amin and Rortvedt led the way for the Pointers, each tallying 15 points on the day. Moses and Beamish each added 14 and Louis Hurd (Portage/Portage) (Portage) scored 10 before fouling out in overtime. Rortvedt led the Pointers with seven rebounds while Beamish added five steals and a team-high eight assists.

McKay led the way for the Warhawks, scoring a career-high 35 points.

UW-Stevens Point (20-3, 13-1 WIAC) is now one game up on Whitewater and UW-Platteville in the conference standings. The Pointers have two games remaining on the schedule, as they travel to UW-La Crosse for a showdown with the Eagles on Wednesday and then play host to UW-Platteville on Saturday.