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2017 WIAC Championship Web Page
 
The No. 19 ranked University of Wisconsin-Whitewater men's basketball team used an aggressive offensive approach Tuesday night to defeat UW-Stout 78-69 in a Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Championship first round contest at Kachel Gymnasium.
 
The Warhawks (21-5 overall) advance to Thursday's semifinals, where they'll face second-seeded UW-Oshkosh on the road at 7 p.m.
 
UW-Whitewater, the tournament's No. 3 seed, made 24-of-32 from the free-throw line and shot 46.2 percent from the floor.
 
Four players scored in double figures for the Warhawks, including junior forward Demetrius Woodley (Milwaukee, Wis./Vincent), who tallied a career-high 24 points on 6-of-12 shooting from the floor and 11-of-12 at the free-throw line. He added six rebounds and two blocks in the effort.
 
Junior forward Scotty Tyler (Grafton, Wis./Grafton) posted 17 points, seven rebounds, two blocks and two steals, and junior guard Chris Jones (Milwaukee, Wis./Bradley Tech) registered 12 points, four rebounds and three assists.
 
Sophomore guard/forward Derek Rongstad (Middleton, Wis./Middleton) collected 10 points, four rebounds and two assists.
 
The Blue Devils (13-13 overall) held a 9-5 lead four minutes into the contest. With the game tied at 17-17, UW-Whitewater scored 10 straight points, including four by Rongstad, to take a 27-17 advantage with 8:37 left in the first half.
 
UW-Stout whittled the Warhawks' lead down to one by the 3:23 mark before five straight points by Jones and a tip-in by senior guard Drew Bryson (Elkhorn, Wis./Elkhorn) made it 39-32 two minutes later.
 
A 3-pointer by Tyler gave UW-Whitewater a 45-37 halftime lead.
 
The Blue Devils cut their deficit to one with 12:04 on the clock in the second half, but the Warhawks scored the next seven points to bring their lead to 60-52 with 8:28 left.
 
UW-Whitewater's lead reached double digits with 3:47 remaining on a layup by sophomore guard Andre Brown (Kenosha, Wis./Indian Trail). From there, UW-Stout got no closer than seven.
 
The Warhawks finished with a 34-18 advantage on points in the paint.