Box Score La Crosse, Wis. - The University of Wisconsin-La Crosse men's basketball team earned a 66-54 victory over UW-River Falls Wednesday night in Mitchell Hall.  The Eagles improve to 11-7 overall and 5-2 in the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (WIAC) while the Falcons drop to 11-7 overall and 5-2 in conference play.  With the victory, UWL is now tied for first place in the WIAC with UW-River Falls. 
 
UWL started the game on a 13-2 run, capped by a Ben Meinholz layup with 14:27 remaining in the first half.  UW-River Falls answered with an 8-0 run of its own and the Eagles lead was cut to 13-10 at the 11:03 mark.  A Jared Staege three-pointer with just :37 left gave UWL its biggest lead of the half at 32-21, but the Falcons would get a basket from Garret Pearson in the final seconds, and the Eagles led 32-23 at the break.
 
Early in the second half, a Devin Yurk three put the Eagles back up twelve, and UW-River Falls was unable to get it back to single digits the remainder of the game.  The Eagles had its biggest lead of the game late, as an Austin Fritz free throw made it 66-49 with just 2:02 remaining.  
 
UWL shot 41.9% from the field, were 25% (six-of-24) from three point range, and 72.7% (eight-of-11) from the free throw line.  Yurk led four Eagles scoring in double-figures with 19 points, and also pulled down 10 rebounds.  Ben Meinholz added 15 while Staege had 14 and Fritz had ten points.  Meinholz also had four steals and three assists for UWL.     

UW-River Falls shot 36.8% from the field, including 16.7% (three-of-18) from three-point range, and 75.0% (nine-of-12) at the line.  Jon Christensen scored 13 for the Falcons, with Grant Erickson adding 12.  Brennan Witt led the team with seven rebounds, while Erickson and Jack Herum added three assists each.  

UW-L returns to action Saturday, January 30 at UW-Platteville at 7 p.m.