La Crosse, Wis. - The Viterbo University Men's Basketball team will be heading to the Midwest Collegiate Conference Semifinals as they defeated Waldorf College 87-56 Wednesday night at the R.W. Beggs Sr. Gymnasium.

Scott Buschman (Sr. - Naperville, Ill.) was taken out of the game with nine minutes remaining in the first half after he was cut below the eye while going up for a layup. While he only missed five minutes while getting the wound treated in the locker room, his teammates picked up the slack as they went on a 15-6 run during his absence to give them a 34-20 advantage. The V-Hawks went into halftime with a 41-24 lead as Ryan Ambrose (Sr. - Jr. - Twin Lakes, Wis.) led the way with 16 points while going 3-5 from behind the three point line.

There was no looking back for the V-Hawks as they continued their dominance into the second half. The V-Hawks would go on to shoot 19-31 (61.3%) in the second half including 3-4 (75.0%) from long range. Many players received minutes for the V-Hawks as they sat with a comfortable lead for the entire second half. Making the most of his opportunity was senior Tyler Hanold (Richland Center, Wis.). Hanold went on to score a career high 13 points on the night while shooting 4-6 (66.7%) from the field. Freshman Jarrett Svestka (Decorah, Iowa) went 3-3 from the field scoring seven points for the V-Hawks.

The leading scorer on the night for the V-Hawks was Ryan Ambrose who also scored a career high 22 points while going 4-6 from long range. Buschman also returned from his early injury in a strong way as he finished with 18 points and nine rebounds. Buschman is now just six points away from scoring 2,000 points in his career.

Buschman will receive the opportunity to accomplish this feat as the V-Hawks will take on William Penn University in a semifinals game on Friday night at 7:00 pm. The V-Hawks will host the #6 seed Statesmen at home with the winner advancing to the MCC Championship Game on February 28^th at 6:00 pm.

The V-Hawks finished 32-58 (55.2%) from the field compared to just 20-55 (36.4%) from the Warriors. Viterbo also committed just nine turnovers on the night while also out-rebounding Waldorf 35-28. Chris Holloway was the leading scorer for the Warriors as he finished with 17 points while shooting 7-10 (70.0%) from the field.

The win gives Viterbo a .500 record for the first time since November 13^th as they improve to 14-14 on the season. With the loss, Waldorf finishes the season with a 10-17 overall record.