Box Score La Crosse, Wis. - The University of Wisconsin-La Crosse men's basketball team earned a 71-51 victory over UW-Eau Claire Saturday night in Mitchell Hall. The Eagles improve to 8-5 overall and 2-0 in the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (WIAC) with their fifth straight win overall. The Blugolds drop to 8-5 overall and 1-1 in the WIAC as they saw their three-game winning streak snapped. It is UWL's second win in the last six meetings with UW-Eau Claire.
UWL's five-game winning streak is its longest since opening the 2012-13 season with six straight victories.
UW-Eau Claire led by as many as five points in the first half, including 12-7 with 12:36 remaining on a Jacob Kohner layup. The Blugolds led 18-16 when the Eagles used a 10-1 run to lead 26-19 with 3:29 left after
Jared Staege connected on three free throws after being fouled on a three-point attempt. UWL led 28-22 at halftime.
The Eagles scored the first five points of the second half as Staege hit a three-pointer and
Ben Meinholz a jumper to make it 33-22. UWL later led 41-30 with 12:13 left on a
Kenny Finco layup before UW-Eau Claire went on a 8-2 run to cut its deficit to 43-38 with 8:15 remaining. The Blugolds would get no closer the rest of the game. UWL led 49-42 with 6:38 remaining when it used a 13-4 run to lead 62-46.
UWL shot 44.6% from the field, including 35.0% (seven-of-20) from three-point range, and 82.4% (14-of-17) at the free throw line. The Eagles shot 53.1% (17-of-32) from the field in the second half.
Austin Fritz led UWL with 18 points and eight rebounds while Staege finished with 13 points and
Lucas Collom scored 10 points off the bench. Meinholz finished with eight points, six rebounds and two blocks while
Devin Yurk had six points, seven rebounds and four assists.
UW-Eau Claire shot 33.3% from the field, including 8.0% (two-of-25) from three-point range, and 42.9% (nine-of-21) at the line. The Blugolds missed all nine of their three-point attempts in the first half and went two-of-16 (12.5%) in the second half.
Jack Martinek led UW-Eau Claire with 16 points while George Diekelman recorded a double-double with 10 points and game-high 12 rebounds. Chris Duff finished with nine points.
UWL returns to action Wednesday, January 13 at UW-Oshkosh at 7 p.m.
