Wisconsin 84, UW-La Crosse 59

Madison, Wis. - The University of Wisconsin-La Crosse men's basketball team opened its 2010-11 season with a 84-59 exhibition loss at the University of Wisconsin Saturday night in the Kohl Center. It was also the Badgers' first game of the season.

"This was a great opportunity for us," said UW-L head coach Ken Koelbl. "I know a lot of teams have said that, and we wanted to come in here and get something out of it. I thought we did. We obviously know the Badgers are a very good basketball team, and we knew we were going to have our hands full.

"What I was most pleased with was the way we battled in the second half. I thought we fought really hard, got back in it, made some plays and adjusted well to playing a pretty good team.

"Bo Ryan was in our league for a very long time and I was glad to see him leave, and I'm glad I don't have to compete against him on a regular basis. He's got a very good team. He does an excellent job. I was pleased with our guys though. I thought we handled it very well."

The Eagles' took a 3-0 lead on Michael Hanson's three-pointer with 18:41 remaining in the first half, but the Badgers responded with a 9-3 run. Jon Leuer scored six points in the run. UW-L cut the lead to 12-7 with 13:32 remaining on a Tony Mane jumper before Wisconsin used a 8-2 run to lead 20-9. 

Hanson hit another three-point basket with 5:08 left to cut the deficit to 29-16, but Wisconsin ended the half on a 15-7 run to lead 44-23 at halftime.

Wisconsin led by as many as 26 at 63-37 with 10:19 left after a pair of Jared Berggren free throws, but UW-L used a 16-4 run to cut the lead to 67-53 with 5:40 remaining. Hanson had eight points and Mane five for the Eagles in the run. Wisconsin led 75-59 with 3:18 left and finished the game on a 9-0 run.

Mane led UW-L with 24 points, finishing 10-of-20 from the field, including two-of-seven from three-point range. Hanson finished with 17 points for the Eagles, going five-of-10 from the field, including five-of-nine from three-point range.

Mane and Hanson were both two-of-two at the free throw line. 

Al Chery finished with six points for the Eagles while Jack Taylor added five. Chery had a team-high five rebounds.

UW-L shot 41.1% from the field, including 37.5% (nine-of-24) from three-point range. The Eagles made all four of their free throw shots.

Leuer and Keaton Nankivil led Wisconsin with 15 points each. Leuer also had a game-high 10 rebounds. Jordan Taylor added 12 points and game-high six assists for the Badgers. 

Wisconsin shot 50.8% from the field, including 41.2% (seven-of-17) from three-point range. The Badgers shot 83.3% (15-of-18) at the free throw line.

UW-L returns to action Monday, Nov. 15 at Concordia University (Wis.) beginning at 7 p.m. in the Eagles' regular-season opener.