Box Score Whitewater, Wis. - The University of Wisconsin-La Crosse men's basketball team extended its winning streak to four straight games with a 74-68 victory at UW-Whitewater Saturday night in Kachel Gymnasium. The Eagles, winners of 11 of their last 13 games overall, improve to 14-7 overall and 8-2 in the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (WIAC) while maintaining their one-game lead in the league standings. The Warhawks drop to 13-8 overall and 4-6 in the WIAC with Saturday's loss.
UWL earned its first win at UW-Whitewater since 2006-07 and swept the two regular season meetings with the Warhawks since 2006-07. The Eagles picked up a 72-70 overtime victory over the Warhawks January 16 in La Crosse.
The Eagles scored five of the game's first six points to lead 5-1 before the Warhawks went on a 12-4 run to lead 13-9 with 7:24 remaining in the first half. UW-Whitewater led 15-11, but UWL used a 13-3 run to take a 24-18 with 3:08 left after a
Ben Meinholz jumper. A Trinson White jumper for the Warhawks cut the lead to 24-20 with 2:13 remaining, but Meinholz connected on a jumper with 1:04 left to give the Eagles a 26-20 halftime lead.
UWL never trailed in the second half. Trailing 33-22 with 17:39 left in the game, UW-Whitewater went on a 9-2 run to cut the deficit to 35-31 on a Haki Stampley three-point field goal. The Eagles responded as
Austin Fritz scored five straight points to make it 40-31 with 13:18 remaining. UW-Whitewater later cut the lead to 52-44 with 7:37 left, but UWL used a 9-2 run to take its largest lead of the game at 61-46 with 4:11 remaining. The Warhawks could get no closer than six points the rest of the game.
UWL shot 48.1% from the field Saturday, including 57.1% (eight-of-14) from three-point range, and 88.9% (16-of-18) at the free throw line. The Eagles shot 61.5% (16-of-26) from the field in the second half, including 62.5% (five-of-eight) from three-point range. The team shot 91.7% (11-of-12) at the line in the second half.
Jared Staege led UWL with 21 points Saturday, going seven-of-12 from the field, including five-of-seven from three-point range, and two-of-two at the line. Fritz finished with 15 points while Meinholz totaled 13. Staege, Meinholz and
Clint Rihn each had six rebounds. Meinholz also had a game-high six assists.
UW-Whitewater shot 37.5% from the field, including 44.4% (eight-of-18) from three-point range, and 75.0% (18-of-24) at the line. Stampley led the Warhawks with 20 points while White finished with 19 points and Andre Brown with 10. White and Brown tied for the game-high with nine rebounds.
UWL returns to action Wednesday, February 10 at UW-River Falls at 7 p.m.
