Steege, moving to No. 17 on the Knights’ all-time scoring chart, dropped in 17 points, dished out two assists and picked up two steals. He also led a strong effort at the charity stripe for head coach Dick Peth’s squad, going 13 of 14 as part of a 27 of 39 team free throw total. Schmidt moved with one point of 900 for his career, tallying 19 points and pulling down six rebounds as part of a 44-28 advantage on the glass.
Wartburg’s sixth consecutive win was guided by a 40.9 percent field goal shooting outing in the second half, while UMW was limited to 31 percent shooting in the stanza.
The Knights (7-1) move into the championship game of Bracket #1 Thursday, Dec. 22, against the winner of Wednesday’s game between Aurora and UW-Oshkosh.