Box Score La Crosse, Wis. - The University of Wisconsin-La Crosse men's basketball team earned 58-46 victory over Luther College (Iowa) Wednesday night in Mitchell Hall. The Eagles, who snapped a two-game losing streak, improve to 4-5 on the season while the Norse drop to 1-8. The 46 points by Luther (Iowa) is an opponent season-low for UWL.
The Eagles raced out to an 8-2 lead before the Norse went on an 9-0 run to take their first lead of the game at 11-8 on a Kole Ruud three-point field goal. The first half featured eight lead changes and five ties before UWL scored the final six points of the half to lead 25-21.
UWL never trailed in the second half, scoring the first five points of the second half to lead 30-21. The Eagles led 37-28 with 14:43 remaining when the Norse went on a 8-2 run to cut the deficit to 39-36 with 10:55 remaining. UWL led 43-38 with 8:15 left when a
Ben Meinholz three-pointer gave it a 46-38 advantage. The Eagles led 49-40 with 5:29 remaining, but the Norse scored six of the next seven points to make it 50-46 with 3:15 left. UWL finished the game on an 8-0 run with Luther (Iowa) getting its final field goal with 4:03 left.
UWL shot 34.5% from the field, including 25.0% (seven-of-28) from three-point range, and 81.3% (13-of-16) at the free throw line. The Eagles were 11-of-12 (91.7%) at the line in the second half. UWL had a season-low nine turnovers.
Jared Staege led UWL with a career-high 22 points Wednesday, finishing eight-of-13 from the field, including one-of-two from three-point range, and five-of-six at the line. He also had five rebounds and three blocks.
Devin Yurk finished with 16 points, six rebounds and three assists while
Ryan Kruser totaled eight points.
Luther (Iowa) shot 34.8% from the field, including 33.3% (six-of-18) from three-point range, and 66.7% (eight-of-12) at the line. The Norse finished with 19 turnovers Wednesday, including 14 in the first half.
Nathan Meyer led Luther (Iowa) with 14 points while McCoy Matthias finished with 10 points. Meyer and Matthias each finished with five rebounds.
UWL returns to action Monday, December 28 at the University of La Verne (Calif.) at 4 p.m. (Central).
