The Illinois men’s wheelchair basketball team found themselves in an unfamiliar position Friday night against University of Wisconsin-Whitewater. The Illini, who had lost seven games against the Warhawks heading into the National Intercollegiate Wheelchair Basketball Tournament, were leading by six points heading into halftime of the semi-final game.

But number two-seeded Wisconsin-Whitewater, the three-year reigning champion, was too much for the Illini to handle in the second half and eventually won 52-45.

After trailing for the majority of the game, Wisconsin found a hot shooter in the second half and was able to capitalize on several well-executed weak side screens. Wisconsin-Whitewater junior Jamie Mazzi took full advantage of his open shots, twice tying the score and then putting them in the lead with just more than five minutes left in the game. Illinois was never able to recover.

“In the second half we had a little trouble getting out on Jaime Mazzi,” said Illinois head coach Mike Frogley. “He helped get them on track. We didn’t read the screen well, and read whether to jump high or low.”

“[Mazzi’s] a real streaky shooter,” said Illinois freshman guard Steve Serio. “We didn’t do a good job of recognizing once he hit a few that he was going to keep shooting and keep hitting them.”

Serio did all he could to keep Illinois in the game against the Warhawks, contributing a team-high 17 points. His nine first half points helped establish the lead, despite the scoring of Wisconsin’s Matthew Scott. Scott scored Wisconsin’s first 14 points and was relentless on defense, as he tallied three steals.

But the second half was a different story and it was all Mazzi for the Warhawks, who ended the game with 17 points, scoring all of them in the second half.

“Usually No. 4, [Jeremy] Campbell, is their leading scorer, their MVP,” said Illinois senior guard Denny Muha. “We held him to four points. Mazzi picked up the slack for him. Every time we left him open, he made us pay.”

Campbell was relatively quiet for Wisconsin, who in previous games dominated Illinois. In their last two meetings, Campbell scored a combined 61 points. In shutting down Campbell, the Illini were able to execute their game plan, but it in the end, it wasn’t enough.

“We had good shots down the stretch; we had the looks we wanted, we played with good possessions,” Frogley said. “The ball just didn’t go in the hoop for us today.”