La Crosse, Wis. - The University of Wisconsin-La Crosse fell 62-58 to 10th-ranked UW-Eau Claire Wednesday night in Mitchell Hall.  The Eagles drop to 9-5 overall and 1-2 in the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (WIAC) while the Blugolds improve to 12-2 overall and 2-1 in the conference.  UW-Eau Claire earns its sixth win in the last eight meetings with UWL. 

The game featured seven ties in the first half with neither team leading by more than four points in the first 18:00.  UWL took a 19-17 lead with 5:45 remaining on a Ben Meinholz jumper, but UW-Eau Claire uses a 10-0 run to lead 27-19 with :51 left after a George Diekelman jumper.  Kenny Finco's jumper with :08 cut the Eagles' deficit to 27-21 at halftime.

UW-Eau Claire, ranked 10th on this week's D3hoops.com Top-25 Poll, led 32-25 with 17:44 remaining on Jared Schneidermann's three-point play, but UWL went on a 11-0 run to take a 36-32 advantage with 14:31 left.  Ryan Kruser hit a pair of three-pointers in the run and Finco's three-point field goal gave UWL its four point lead.  The Blugolds came back to take a 44-40 lead with 10:00 left on a Jack Martinek layup, but Kruser's third three-point field goal of the second half cut the deficit to 44-43 with 9:25 remaining.  

Zach Schradle tied the game for UWL with 6:49 left as he connected on one-of-two at the free throw line.  Diekelman and Martinek hit back-to-back layups to give UW-Eau Claire a 52-48 advantage and the Blugolds later led 56-52 with 2:05 left on Diekelman's two free throws.  An Austin Fritz layup with 1:48 left cut the lead to two and after a missed Diekelman jumper, Schradle's three-point play with 1:05 left gave UWL a 57-56 lead.  Diekelman hit a pair of free throws with :44 left to give UW-Eau Claire a 58-57 lead and after a UWL turnover, Martinek made two free throws with :21 remaining to give UW-Eau Claire 60-57 lead.  Kruser missed a three-point attempt with :14 remaining, but Fritz was able to grab the offensive rebound.  Kruser was fouled with :09 left and made one-of-two at the line to cut it to 60-58 before Martinek made two free throws with :07 for the final margin.

UWL shot 37.9% from the field, including 26.7% (four-of-15) from three-point range, and 62.5% (10-of-16) at the free throw line.  The Eagles missed all seven of their first half three-point attempts before going four-of-eight (50.0%) in the second half. 

Schradle led four players in double figures with 13 points while also finishing with a team-high eight rebounds and five assists.  Kruser totaled 12 points while Meinholz finished with 11 and Fritz with 10. Meinholz added six rebounds and three assists while Fritz finished with seven rebounds. 

UW-Eau Claire shot 42.0% from the field, including 13.3% (two-of-15) from three-point range, and 90.0% (18-of-20) at the line.  The Blugolds were 17-of-17 at the line in the second half. 

Diekelman led UW-Eau Claire with 24 points while Martinek finished with 16.  Schnediermann had a game-high 10 rebounds. 

UWL returns to action Saturday, January 14 at UW-Stout at 3 p.m.