The No. 8 UW-Whitewater men's basketball team defeated UW-Eau Claire (9-10 overall, 1-7 WIAC), 75-59, in a Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference matchup at Kachel Gymnasium Saturday evening.
 
The Warhawks sank 12 3-pointers and shot 57.1 percent behind the arc in the game in the victory compared to 40 percent (2-of-5) behind the arc from UW-Eau Claire.
 
Junior guard Derek Rongstad (Middleton, Wis./Middleton) led the Warhawks with 16 points and four assists.  Junior guards David Sachs (Highland Park, Ill./Highland Park) and Dalton Menke (Rockford, Ill./Winnebago) both tallied 12 points and junior Maurquis Turner (Milwaukee, Wis./King) added 11 points.
 
UW-Whitewater (15-4 overall, 5-3 WIAC) sank seven of their 12 3-pointers in the first half.  The Warhawks took their first lead of the game at the 16:17 mark with a 3-pointer by Menke from Turner.
 
The Warhawks continued to extend the lead in the half.  Sachs drained a jumper to give UW-Whitewater a 13-point lead with 2:58 remaining in the period.
 
A dunk by Brown at the end of the half gave the Warhawks a 40-30 lead.
 
UW-Whitewater continued its hot shooting in the second half, hitting on 47.8 percent of its from the floor.
 
Turner sank a 3-pointer at 9:39 in the second half to extend the Warhawk lead to 61-49.
 
Sachs tallied a pair of free throws with less than six minutes remaining in the contest to give UW-Whitewater a 15-point lead.
 
With less than a minute left in play, freshman guard Shannon Sanford Jr. (Milwaukee, Wis./Washington) took it to the basket and finished the layup to account for the final margin.
 
The Warhawks forced 17 turnovers by UW-Eau Claire and tallied 14 points off the turnovers.  UW-Whitewater shot 54 percent from the floor in the game to help secure the victory.
 
UW-Whitewater will travel to UW-Stevens Point Wednesday, Jan. 31, at 7 p.m. for a conference matchup.