Box Score Platteville, Wis. - The University of Wisconsin-La Crosse men's basketball team fell 80-79 at UW-Platteville Saturday night on Bo Ryan Court.  The Eagles drop to 10-6 overall and 4-3 in the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (WIAC) while the Pioneers improve to 11-5 overall and 6-1 in the conference.  It is UW-L's second loss this week by two points or less after a 59-57 defeat at UW-Stout Wednesday night.

UW-Platteville, receiving votes on this week's D3hoops.com Top-25 Poll, raced out to a 13-4 lead with 14:14 left in the first half.  The Pioneers led by as many as 13 points at 37-24 with 3:41 remaining in the half when the Eagles used a 10-4 run to cut their halftime deficit to 41-34.

The Pioneers led 49-38 with 18:15 left in the game, but the Eagles went on a 19-2 run to lead 57-51 with 13:16 remaining.  UW-L went seven-of-nine from the field in its run and UW-Platteville missed its five shots from the field and had five turnovers.

Jim Stocki later cut the lead to 61-57 with 11:02 left for UW-Platteville, but UW-L went on a 7-1 run to lead 68-58 with 8:57 remaining.

UW-L led 72-65 with 7:00 left after a Lucas Collom layup before UW-Platteville scored eight straight points to lead 73-72 with 4:10 remaining after a Chas Cross layup.  Luke Tweed came right back to hit a three-pointer for the Eagles and a 75-73 advantage with 3:40 left, but Eric Gerber gave the lead back to the Pioneers with a three-point field goal of his own with 2:38 left to make it 76-75.

Jared Staege converted a pair of free throws with 1:30 remaining to give UW-L a 77-76 lead.  The Pioneers turned the ball over, but the Eagles missed a layup with 1:00 left.  Cross then scored on a layup to give UW-Platteville a 78-77 advantage with :36 remaining, but Tweed's jumper with :20 left gave UW-L a one-point lead. 

Cross scored his second straight layup with :09 left to give the Pioneers a 80-79 lead.  The Eagles' Braden Tice missed a three-point field goal attempt with :01 remaining.

UW-L shot 52.5% from the field, including 34.8% (eight-of-23) from three-point range, and 77.8% (nine-of-11) at the free throw line.

Calahan Skogman led the Eagles with 22 points, seven reobunds and four assists while Tweed finished with 17 points.  He was three-of-six from three-point range.  Staege had 12 points and four steals while Collom finished with 10 points.

UW-Platteville shot 59.3% from the field, including 50.0% (six-of-12) from three-point range, and 71.4% (10-of-14) at the line.

Cross finished with 33 points, going 14-of-17 from the field and five-of-eight at the line.  Gerber had 18 points while Stocki and Boston Johnson each had 10.  Stocki had a game-high 11 rebounds.

UW-L returns to action Wednesday, January 22 hosting eighth-ranked UW-Whitewater at 7 p.m.