Platteville, Wis. – The University of Wisconsin-La Crosse men's basketball team earned a 77-66 victory over UW-Platteville Saturday night at Bo Ryan Court.  The Eagles improve to 10-7 on the season and 2-4 in Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (WIAC) play while the Pioneers fall to 8-9 overall and 1-5 in the WIAC. With the win, the Eagles snapped a four-game losing streak. 

The first half featured six ties and 10 lead changes Saturday.  With 1:00 left to play, UW-Platteville took a six-point lead at 30-24, the biggest for either team in the half.  A three-pointer from Ryan Kruser with :07 left cut the lead to 30-28 at halftime. 

Ben Meinholz hit a jumper to open the half to tie the game at 30-30.  UW-Platteville's Cory Vaassen made a lay-up to put the Pioneers back ahead by two with 19:23 left, but Meinholz again tied the game with a layup, starting a 11-0 run ending with a pair of Nolan Wright free throws to make the score 42-34 with 13:37 left in the game. 

UW-Platteville cut the lead to one point twice in the next four minutes of play, but UWL was able to pull away down the stretch, hitting on 11-of-12 free throws in the final 1:31 to secure the 77-66 victory. 
 
UWL shot 40.7% from the field, including 50.0% (seven-of-14) from three-point range, and 83.9% (26-of-31) from the free throw line.  Kenny Finco led four players in double figures with a career-high 19 points for UWL.  Zach Schradle and Kruser scored 16 apiece, with Meinholz adding 15.  Schradle led the team with nine rebounds.  Kruser tied his career-high in points.

UW-Platteville shot 39.6% from the floor, including 33.3% (seven-of-21) from three-point range and were perfect (17-of-17) at the line.  Vaassen led all scorers with 21 points, also pulling down 11 rebounds and recording three steals for the Pioneers.  Robert Duax and Dan Lowe added 13 points each. 
  
UWL returns to action Wednesday, January 25, hosting UW-Oshkosh at 7 p.m.