Box Score La Crosse, Wis. - The University of Wisconsin-La Crosse men's basketball team fell 72-61 to UW-River Falls Friday night in a Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (WIAC) Championship Semifinal (presented by Culver's) in Mitchell Hall.  The Eagles wrap up their season at 16-10 overall while the Falcons improve to 17-10 and will play at UW-Oshkosh in the tournament championship game Sunday. 

UWL raced out to a 10-3 lead with Austin Fritz scoring six points.  UW-River Falls cut the lead to 10-5 on a Grant Erickson jumper with 16:47 left when UWL used a 11-1 run to lead 21-6 with 11:42 remaining.  UW-River Falls missed five straight shots from the field and had four turnovers in UWL's run. 

The Falcons responded with a 25-4 run to end the half and lead 31-25.  Trailing 21-8, Jon Christensen hit three of his next four three-point attempts to cut the lead to 21-17 with 9:03 left.  After UWL's Devin Yurk converted a layup to make it 23-17, UW-River Falls scored the next seven points to take its first lead of the game at 24-23 with 7:19 remaining on Christensen's fourth three-pointer of the half.  A Ben Meinholz jumper gave the Eagles a one-point advantage, but the Falcons scored the final seven points to lead 31-25 as Christensen made his fifth three-point field goal with 4:24 remaining.  Both teams went scoreless the last 4:24 of the half as UWL missed its last 10 shots from the field and went two-of-17 overall to finish the half.  UW-River Falls missed its last six shots from the field. 

Jack Herum's three-pointer with 17:22 left in the game gave UW-River Falls a 39-29 lead, but UWL went on a 9-4 run to cut the deficit to 43-38 with 15:08 remaining.  The Falcons used a 15-2 run to lead 58-40 with 11:22 remaining.  The Eagles cut the lead to 61-54 with 4:10 left on a Brendon Manning layup, but could get no closer the rest of the game.

UWL shot 40.3% from the field Friday, including 13.6% (three-of-22) from three-point range, and 53.3% (eight-of-15) at the free throw line.  The Eagles were one-of-nine (11.1%) from three-point range in the first half and two-of-13 (15.4%) in the second half. 

Yurk led UWL with 20 points while Fritz finished with 13.  Meinholz added nine points, eight assists and six rebounds. 

The Eagles, winners of their first WIAC regular-season title since 1965 with a 10-4 league mark this year, drops to 7-13 all-time in the league tournament, including 4-5 at home. UWL was seeking its second-ever appearance in the WIAC Championship game, falling 83-68 at UW-Stevens Point in 2007.
 
UW-River Falls shot 44.6% from the field, including 48.0% (12-of-25) from three-point range, and 76.9% (10-of-13) at the line.  The Falcons shot 51.9% (14-of-27) from the field in the second half, including 54.5% (six-of-11) from three-point range.  The 12 three-point field goals made overall is tied for fifth in single-game WIAC Tournament history.  UW-Stevens Point made a tournament record 15 three-point field goals versus UW-River Falls in 2011. 

Christensen led UW-River Falls with 21 points and eight rebounds, going seven-of-12 from three-point range.  The seven three-point field goals made is tied for second in single-game WIAC Tournament history with Nick Scherer from UW-Oshkosh versus UW-Platteville in 2001.  UW-Stevens Point's Pete Rortvedt set a tournament record with nine three-point field goals against UW-Platteville in 2006.  Christensen's 12 three-point attempts is tied for fifth-most in single-game school history. 

Garret Pearson finished with 11 points for UW-River Falls Friday night while Erickson totaled 10 points and seven assists. 

UW-River Falls improves to 13-13 all-time in the WIAC Championship and will be playing in its third title game Sunday at UW-Oshkosh.  The Falcons are 1-1 all-time in the championship game, winning 64-58 over UW-Whitewater in 2012 and falling 79-56 at UW-Stevens Point in 2011.