Miles Barnstable likely took a thigh bruise back home to UW-Whitewater last weekend.
But the Warhawks’ freshman guard and the team also will have two NCAA Division III victories along with that bruise.
Barnstable made 6 of 12 3-point shots en route to scoring 27 points and the Warhawks held on to defeat host Case Western Reserve University 78-75 in a second-round tournament game here Saturday night.
Barnstable had to overcome a knee to his thigh in the first half.
“He was in a world of pain,” Warhawks head coach Pat Miller said. “Hats off to him for just really grinding it out. He gave us a huge lift in the second half.”
Junior forward Trevon Chislom scored 21 points and led the team with nine rebounds.
“He was amazing on the glass and altering shots,” Miller said.
The teams stayed within a basket of each other for most of the first 12 minutes of the game. The Warhawks then broke away from a 23-23 tie to take a 35-25 lead. Two 3-pointers and two free throws by Barnstable, two free throws by Chislom and a basket by Carter Capstran put Whitewater up by 10 with 3 minutes left in the first half.
The Warhawks only trailed once in the second half at 54-52 with 11:29 left, but Whitewater never could put the game away despite going on a 12-0 run to lead 64-54 with 7:22 left.
The Spartans ran off a spurt of their own and a 3-pointer cut the Warhawks’ lead to 64-63 with 5:22 remaining.
Five free throws by Chislom and two by Delvin Barnstable upped the Warhawks’ advantage to 71-63 with 3:08 to go.
The Spartans stuck around, forcing turnovers and taking advantage of three missed free throws by the Warhawks in the final 49 seconds.
“That’s something we have to fix,” Miller said. “We haven’t handled those game situations great. And we battled a little bit of foul trouble in both these games, so we’ve got to clean that up as well.”
But the Warhawks came up defensively on the Spartans’ final possession, partially blocking the last-second 3-point attempt to secure the victory.
“I’m really proud of them,” Miller said. “It was a hostile environment, and they are a really good team. They made some runs, but we hung in there and did enough to get the win.”
The Warhawks will play a third-round game against John Hopkins (Maryland) University Friday at 3 p.m. at Randolph Macon in Ashland, Virginia. The Bluejays are 25-4 and won their first two tournament games on their home court.
UW-WHITEWATER 78, CASE WESTERN RESERVE 75
UW-Whitewater (78)—D. Barnstable 2-3-8, Capstran 1-1-3, Chislom 5-9-21, Barker 6-2-16, M. Barnstable 8-5-27, Lambert 1-1-3. Totals 23-21-78.
Case Western Reserve (75)—Frilling 2-5-9, Prendergast 8-4-24, Thorburn 4-2-10, Frauenheim 1-2-4, Trunley 4-0-10, Rashid 7-0-18. Totals 26-13-75.
Halftime—W 38, C 34. 3-point goals—W 11 (M. Barnstable 6, Barker 2, Chislom 2, Barnstable), C 10 (Prendergast 4, Rashid 4, Trunley 2). Rebounds—W 43 (Chislom 9), C 39 (Frilling 10). Assists—W 13 (Chislom and Barker, 3 each), C 13 (Frauenheim 10). Missed free throws—W 10, C 3. Team fouls—W 17, C 23. Fouled out—Barker, Frilling, Thorburn.
