Box Score #3 North Central (Ill.) 80, UW-La Crosse 72

Las Vegas, Nev. - The University of Wisconsin-La Crosse men's basketball team fell 80-72 to third-ranked North Central College (Ill.) Saturday night in the D3hoops.com Classic in The South Point Arena. The Eagles, receiving votes on the D3hoops.com Top-25 Poll, drop to 8-3 on the season while the Cardinals, ranked third on the D3hoops.com Poll, improve to 11-0.

UW-L took a 13-8 lead with 9:58 left in the first half on Johnny Coenen's three-point field goal. North Central scored the next five points to force a 13-13 tie with 8:04 remaining. The Cardinals trailed 19-17 with 5:14 left in the half when the Eagles went on a 13-6 run to lead 32-23 with 1:57 remaining after Lucas Morrissey's three-pointer. UW-L, which never trailed in the first half, led 32-26 at halftime.

The Eagles 37-28 early in the second half when the Cardinals went on a 17-8 run to force a 45-45 tie with 12:06 left. After UW-L's Luke Tweed hit one-of-two at the free throw line, North Central's Derek Raridon gave the Cardinals their first lead of the game with a three-point play with 10:40 remaining to make it 48-46.

Trent Schmidt cut the lead to 48-47 going one-of-two at the line, but North Central used a 10-0 run to lead 58-47 with 7:25 left. The Eagles later cut the lead to 64-59 with 4:09 remaining after a pair of Braden Tice free throws and a Morrissey three-point field goal, but UW-L could get no closer the rest of the game. The Cardinals scored the next seven points to lead 71-59. North Central went seven-of-eight at the line in the final 1:55.

Morrissey led UW-L with 20 points Saturday, finishing eight-of-14 from the field, including four-of-eight from three-point range. He also had a team-high five rebounds. Tice tallied 17 points, going four-of-eight from the field, including three-of-five from three-point range, and six-of-six at the line.

UW-L shot 41.1% from the field, including 40.0% (14-of-35) from three-point range. The Eagles shot 60.0% (12-of-20) from the free throw line.

Aaron Tiknis led North Central with 20 points, finishing three-of-five from the field, including two-of-four from three-point range, and 12-of-12 at the free throw line. Raridon finished with 19 points, going 10-of-11 at the line, while Landon Gamble had 18 points and seven rebounds. Vinc Kmiec had a game-high eight rebounds.

North Central shot 59.5% from the field, including 50.0% (three-of-six) from three-point range. The Cardinals shot 86.8% (33-of-38) at the line.

UW-L returns to action Sunday, December 30 versus Hardin-Simmons University (Texas) starting at 4 p.m. (CT) in the D3hoops.com Classic.