The Illinois men’s wheelchair basketball team didn’t get the result it wanted against Wisconsin-Whitewater on Friday night. But in Saturday’s third-place game of the National Intercollegiate Wheelchair Basketball Tournament at Huff Hall, the Illini played one of their best games of the season and defeated Edinboro for the fifth time this season.

In its 65-54 win over Edinboro, head coach Mike Frogley’s team shot 54 percent from the field and showed its character in coming back from a tough loss the day before, he said.

“We believe we’ve practiced harder and better than any other team in the nation, so we were more prepared,” Frogley said. “And when you invest that much effort, together into the game, it hurts a lot more.”

Freshman guard Steve Cerio led the Illini with 22 points on 10-of-17 shooting and also had nine rebounds. Senior guard Denny Muha contributed 18 points, eight of which came from free throws. Frogley said he talked to his team about bringing its best performance of this season this weekend and was pleased with Illinois’ effort.

“What we wanted to do is come in here and over a span of about 30 hours play our best basketball of the year, and while we didn’t get the outcome we wanted (Friday), we really came out and did a nice job,” Frogley said.

The Illini’s cold shooting on Friday was replaced by a “patient offense and great defense,” Frogley said. With only 13 fouls committed to Edinboro’s 19, Illinois was able to win the game at the free throw line with 14 attempts to only 2 by Edinboro. The Illini only slipped a little at the end, Frogley said, after they were up by 15 points with only two minutes left in the game, though he said that it can be expected.

One thing that worked to the Illini’s advantage throughout the whole weekend was being able to play on their homecourt – Huff Hall.

“We had a lot of people here that we never have anywhere else, more fans,” said Illini sophomore guard Zach Beaulieu, who added four points and one steal.

Josh George, Daily Illini columnist, said Orange Krush members, some of the able-bodied basketball players and family helped create a “pretty significant cheering section.”

Frogley said the team will be able to use the national tournament this season as a stepping stone for the future. Illinois will have all of its players back next season and will add a number of talented freshman and redshirts.

“We’re only going to get stronger, and everybody learned lessons from this (tournament),” Frogley said. “We’re just an inch away from being in the National Championship game.”