{"id":10801,"date":"2024-04-19T07:29:18","date_gmt":"2024-04-19T12:29:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.wisconsin.edu\/all-in-wisconsin-new\/?post_type=campus_story&p=10801"},"modified":"2024-04-19T08:17:59","modified_gmt":"2024-04-19T13:17:59","slug":"uw-whitewater-mens-wheelchair-basketball-wins-national-championship","status":"publish","type":"campus_story","link":"https:\/\/www.wisconsin.edu\/all-in-wisconsin\/story\/uw-whitewater-mens-wheelchair-basketball-wins-national-championship\/","title":{"rendered":"UW-Whitewater men\u2019s wheelchair basketball wins national championship"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Photo<\/a><\/p>\n

The\u00a0University of Wisconsin-Whitewater men\u2019s wheelchair basketball team<\/a>\u00a0earned its 14th national title in program history by winning the\u00a0National Wheelchair Basketball Association Men\u2019s College Championship<\/a>\u00a0on March 14-16, 2024, at Southwest Minnesota State University in Marshall, Minnesota.<\/p>\n

The Warhawks punctuated a perfect 3-0 record through the tournament with a 74-67 victory against top-seeded Arizona in the final game to pick up the program\u2019s first national championship since 2016.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have all worked so hard over the past two years for this moment \u2013 the staff and the players,\u201d coach Jake Williams said. \u201cWhen you reach your goal and actually achieve it, that feels like the most satisfying part.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe knew the whole Warhawk family was behind us \u2013 some of them were actually waiting for us at our practice facility when we got back. It was amazing to have that welcome home.\u201d<\/p>\n

Evan Oberst and Thomas Oberst,\u00a0general business majors<\/a>\u00a0from Hartland, combined for 52 points in the championship game. Evan scored 23 points and added five rebounds and five assists, while Thomas finished with 29 points and team highs of 16 rebounds and nine assists.<\/p>\n

Thomas Oberst was named the game\u2019s Most Valuable Player.<\/p>\n

UW-Whitewater started its run March 14 with an 81-59 win against Southwest Minnesota State and punched its ticket to the title contest March 15 with a 74-58 triumph against Alabama in the semifinals.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe really played our best basketball toward the end of the season, which is exactly what we wanted \u2013 we peaked at the right time,\u201d Williams said. \u201cWe also knew we had great support from our alumni. We know winning means a lot to them, so that helps drive us to give everything.\u201d<\/p>\n

The team\u2019s regular season journey \u2013 which began with a home tournament on Dec. 1-2, 2023, at Kachel Fieldhouse in Whitewater \u2013 helped prepare the team for the tournament.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe made some big improvements over this past season,\u201d Williams said. \u201cI noticed how well we grew together as a team, formed strong bonds, and learned to play for each other. We also developed mental toughness, which helps in the big games like the ones this past weekend.\u201d<\/p>\n

Williams now sets his sights on the\u00a0Paris 2024 Paralympic Games<\/a>, which are set for Aug. 28-Sept. 8.<\/p>\n

Five Warhawks competed along with Williams for the\u00a0gold medal-winning Team USA<\/a>\u00a0last summer at the 2023 Parapan American Games in Santiago, Chile. AJ Fitzpatrick, a\u00a0human performance major<\/a>\u00a0from Cedar Rapids, Iowa, Talen Jourdan, a general business major from Deerfield, and Warhawk alums John Boie and Jeromie Meyer were part of that team.<\/p>\n

All five hope to be selected for the Paris 2024 roster, which will be announced in early April.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n

Written by Chris Lindeke<\/p>\n

Link to original story: https:\/\/www.uww.edu\/news\/archive\/2024-03-wheelchair-bball-national-champions<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The\u00a0University of Wisconsin-Whitewater men\u2019s wheelchair basketball team\u00a0earned its 14th national title in program history by winning the\u00a0National Wheelchair Basketball Association Men\u2019s College Championship\u00a0on March 14-16, 2024, at Southwest Minnesota State University in Marshall, Minnesota. The Warhawks punctuated a perfect 3-0 record through the tournament with a 74-67 victory against top-seeded Arizona in the final game […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":15,"featured_media":10806,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","institution":[84],"story_category":[],"class_list":["post-10801","campus_story","type-campus_story","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","institution-uw-whitewater"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wisconsin.edu\/all-in-wisconsin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/campus_story\/10801","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wisconsin.edu\/all-in-wisconsin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/campus_story"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wisconsin.edu\/all-in-wisconsin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/campus_story"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wisconsin.edu\/all-in-wisconsin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/15"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wisconsin.edu\/all-in-wisconsin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10801"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wisconsin.edu\/all-in-wisconsin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/10806"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wisconsin.edu\/all-in-wisconsin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10801"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"institution","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wisconsin.edu\/all-in-wisconsin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/institution?post=10801"},{"taxonomy":"story_category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wisconsin.edu\/all-in-wisconsin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/story_category?post=10801"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}