Box Score La Crosse, Wis. - The University of Wisconsin-La Crosse men's basketball team earned a 61-60 victory over UW-River Falls Saturday afternoon in Mitchell Hall. The Eagles improve to 8-10 overall and 3-6 in the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (WIAC) while the Falcons fall to 7-11 overall and 5-4 in the conference.
UW-L led by as many as five points in the first half at 12-7 with 14:23 remaining after a
Ryan Kruser three-point field goal. UW-River Falls went on a 9-2 run to take a 16-14 lead with 11:14 left. The contest was later tied 18-18 when the Falcon scored the next seven points to take their biggest lead at 25-18 with 7:16 left after a Garret Pearson three-pointer.
UW-River Falls led 28-21 with 5:41 remaining on a Matt Timlin three-point field goal, but UW-L's
Cale Zuiker and
Johnny Coenen hit back-to-back three-pointers to cut the lead to 28-27. The Falcons' CJ Lewis made a three-point field goal of his own with :44 remaining to give UW-River Falls a 31-27 halftime advantage.
The Falcons led 36-30 with 17:53 remaining in the game on Jon Christensen's three-point play, but the Eagles went on a 7-0 run to lead 37-36 with 16:10 left after
Jared Staege's jumper. The game was later tied 47-47 with 8:14 remaining on Staege's three-point field goal, but UW-River Falls took a 51-47 lead on a Pearson jumper and Grant Erickson layup. The Falcons led 54-50 with 5:04 left when Staege hit a three-pointer and Zuiker had a steal and dunk to give the Eagles a 55-54 lead with 4:10 remaining.
Timlin's three-pointer with 2:34 left gave UW-River Falls at 57-55 lead with 2:34 left and the Falcons later led 59-55 with 1:20 remaining on a pair of Christensen free throws. Staege cut the lead to 59-56 with 1:12 left hitting one-of-two at the line. After each team missed a shot from the field, Christensen was called for a turnover with :14 remaining. Zuiker then tied the game at 59-59 with :08 left for UW-L, but Erickson was fouled in the backcourt with :05 remaining. He made the first free throw to give UW-River Falls at 60-59 advantage, but missed the second and UW-L grabbed the rebound. After a timeout, UW-L tossed the ball to Zuiker at halfcourt who threw it to Coenen and he drove the court hitting the game-winning jumper at the buzzer.
UW-L shot 41.8% from the field, including 35.7% (10-of-28) from three-point range, and 45.5% (five-of-11) at the free throw line. Staege led the Eagles with 17 points while Coenen finished with a career-high 13 points and team-high six rebounds and four assists. Zuiker finished with 11 points and five rebounds Saturday while
Kenny Finco had eight points and five rebounds.
UW-River Falls shot 47.8% from the field, including 52.4% (11-of-21) from three-point range, and 62.5% (five-of-eight) at the line. Pearson led the Falcons with 12 points and 11 rebounds off the bench while finished with 11 points.
UW-L returns to acton Wednesday, January 28 hosting 15th-ranked UW-Stevens Point at 7 p.m.
