La Crosse, Wis. - The University of Wisconsin-La Crosse men's basketball team fell 67-62 to 24th-ranked UW-Whitewater Saturday night in Mitchell Hall.  The Eagles drop to 10-9 overall and 2-6 in the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (WIAC) while the Warhawks improve to 16-3 overall and 5-3 in the conference.  UW-Whitewater snapped a three-game losing streak to UWL with Saturday's win. 

UWL scored the first 10 points of the game Saturday, including five each from Austin Fritz and Ryan Kruser.  UW-Whitewater responded with a 12-2 run to force a 12-12 tie after Cole Van Schyndel's layup.  The Warhawks took a 32-27 lead with 2:58 left in the first half on a pair of Chris Jones free throws, but the Eagles forced a 34-34 tie on Kenny Finco's three-point play with 1:39 remaining. UW-Whitewater took a 42-35 halftime lead with Jones connecting on a three-pointer with :06 left. 

UW-Whitewater, ranked 24th on this week's D3hoops.com Top-25 Poll, took a 46-39 lead with 15:27 remaining in the game on two free throws from Van Schyndel.  UWL went on a 11-4 run to tie the game at 50-50 with 11:24 left on a Terek Nesheim jumper.  The game featured 10 ties, including 58-58 with 3:29 remaining on the Eagles' Zach Schradle's dunk.  A Demetrius Woodley jumper and Derek Rongstad layup gave UW-Whitewater a 62-58 advantage with 2:08 left.

UWL cut the deficit to 64-62 on Schradle's jumper and had a chance to tie the game after a UW-Whitewater turnover, but Schradle's jumper was missed with :38 remaining. Jones made one-of-two free throws with :31 left for a 65-62 lead, but Ben Meinholz missed a potential game-tying three-point field goal with :15 remaining.  Woodley missed the front-end of a free throw with :09 left, but UWL turned the ball over on its next possession and Jones layup at the buzzer gave UW-Whitewater the five-point lead.

UWL shot 44.0% from the field, including 41.7% (five-of-12) from three-point range, and 72.2% (13-of-18) at the free throw line.  Fritz led four players in double figures with 17 points, finishing seven-of-13 from the field and three-of-three at the line. Schradle recorded his 10th double-double of the season with 13 points and game-high 14 rebounds.  Meinholz added 12 points and four assists Saturday while Finco had 11 points. 

UW-Whitewater shot 49.0% from the field, including 35.7% (five-of-14) from three-point range, and 70.0% (14-of-20) at the line. The Warhawks shot 55.6% (15-of-27) from the field in the first half. Jones led UW-Whitewater with 25 points, including 20 in the first half.  Rongstad had 10 points and team-high six rebounds. 

UWL returns to action Wednesday, February 1 at fifth-ranked UW-River Falls at 7 p.m.