Box Score La Crosse, Wis. - The University of Wisconsin-La Crosse men's basketball team earned a 67-64 victory over UW-Oshkosh Wednesday night in Mitchell Hall on Senior Night. The Eagles improve to 11-12 overall and 6-8 in the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (WIAC) while the Titans fall to 12-10 overall and 6-7 in the conference. UW-L earned its ninth win in the last 10 meetings with UW-Oshkosh.
UW-Oshkosh led 11-9 with 15:42 remaining in the first half on a Sean Dwyer three-pointer, but UW-L used a 9-0 run to take a 18-11 advantage with 12:12 left. The Eagles would never trail again. UW-Oshkosh cut the lead to 23-20 with 7:09 left in the opening half when UW-L went on a 9-1 run to lead 32-21 with 4:56 left after a
Cale Zuiker three-pointer. The Eagles led 38-24 at halftime.
UW-L went eight-of-nine from the field to start the second half to lead 57-44 with 12:35 remaining. The Eagles led 65-54 with 6:47 left after a
Joe Sokovich jumper, but the Titans went on a 10-0 run to cut the deficit to 65-64 with :30 remaining. Charlie Noone hit a three-point field goal with 1:50 left to make it 65-61 and Alex Olson connected on a three-pointer with :30 left to cut the lead to one. UW-L's
Skylar Cameron was fouled and hit both free throws with :24 remaining for a 67-64 lead.
Olson missed a potential game-tying three-pointer with :04 remaining and Mueller missed a three-point attempt with :01 left after grabbing the offensive rebound.
UW-L shot 54.0% from the field, including 50.0% (eight-of-16) from three-point range, and 71.4% (five-of-seven) at the free throw line. Sokovich, making his first career start, led the Eagles with a career-high 23 points, finishing 11-of-16 from the field and one-of-three at the line. He added five rebounds and five blocks. Cameron totaled 18 points while Zuiker finished with 13. Cameron went five-of-eight from the field, inlcuding four-of-seven from three-point range, and four-of-four at the line while Zuiker went three-of-five from three-point range. Cameron and Zuiker tied Sokovich for the team lead with five rebounds.
UW-Oshkosh shot 40.3% from the field, including 47.4% (nine-of-19) from three-point range, and 55.6% (five-of-nine) at the line. Olson led the Titans with 20 points, all coming in the second half. AJ Mueller finished with 11 points and team-high six rebounds while Taylor Jansen had 10 points and five rebounds.
UW-L returns to action Saturday, February 14 at UW-Eau Claire at 5 p.m.
