Box Score La Crosse, Wis. - The University of Wisconsin-La Crosse men's basketball team fell 65-47 to 16th-ranked Hope College (Mich.) Friday night in Mitchell Hall. The Eagles fall to 1-2 on the season while the Flying Dutchmen improve to 1-0. It was the first meeting between the teams.
In the first-ever meeting between the two teams, UWL led by as many as eight points in the first half at 11-3 after a
Devin Yurk three-pointer. Hope (Mich.) cut the advantage to 13-9 before back-to-back baskets from
Brendon Manning and
Jared Staege gave UWL a 17-9 lead. The Eagles led 22-14 with 8:32 left in the first half when the Flying Dutchmen went on 12-4 run to force a 26-26 tie on a Dante Hawkins three-pointer with 2:33 remaining. Hope (Mich.) took its first lead of the game at 30-29 with 1:27 left on a Ben Gardner jumper. Alex Eidson hit a pair of free throws with :37 remaining to give the Flying Dutchmen a 32-29 halftime advantage.
The Eagles missed their final five shots from the field to close the first half while not recording a field goal in last 6:25 overall.
UWL cut the lead to 36-33 on a
Ben Meinholz jumper with 17:22 left in the game, but Hope (Mich.) used a 13-2 run to lead 49-35 with 10:54 remaining. The Eagles went one-of-seven from the field and committed four turnovers in the Flying Dutchmen's run. UWL cut the lead to 51-39 with 9:02 left on a pair of
Austin Fritz free throws, but could get no closer the rest of the game.
UWL shot 28.0% from the field, including 33.3% (four-of-12) from three-point range, and 71.4% (15-of-21) at the free throw line. The Eagles shot 20.0% (five-of-25) from the field in the second half and missed all five of their three-point attempts. Yurk led UWL with 13 points, 11 coming in the first half. Meinholz totaled nine points and team-high eight rebounds while
Ryan Kruser scored eight points off the bench for the Eagles.
Hope (Mich.), ranked 16th on the D3hoops.com Top-25 Preseason Poll, shot 40.7% from the field Friday, including 29.4% (five-of-17) from three-point range, and 66.7% (12-of-18) at the line. The Flying Dutchmen shot 46.2% (12-of-26) from the field in the second half. Gardner led Hope (Mich.) with 13 points, seven rebounds and six assists while Sam Otto finished with 11 points. Brock Benson totaled eight points and six rebounds while Harrison Blackledge finished with seven points and game-high nine rebounds. Eidson aded seven points.
UWL returns to action Saturday, November 21 at Bethel University (Minn.) at 7 p.m.
