La Crosse, Wis. - The University of Wisconsin-La Crosse men's basketball team opened its 2017-18 home schedule with a 81-70 victory over Central College (Iowa) Saturday afternoon in Mitchell Hall. The Eagles improve to 2-0 on the season while the Dutch drop to 0-2.  UWL now leads the all-time series, 2-1, with Central (Iowa). UWL interim head coach Kent Dernbach earned the win in his first home game.  

The first half featured four ties and six lead changes. The game was tied 6-6 when UWL used a 8-0 run to lead 14-6 with 13:56 remaining in the first half on Milton Cummings' three-pointer. Central (Iowa) trailed 16-8 when it went on a 13-3 run of its own for a 21-19 lead with 8:21 left after Luke Posivio's layup. A pair of Nick Drucker for the Dutch tied the game at 28-28 with 4:50 remaining in the first half, but the Eagles went on a 10-1 run to lead 38-29 after Taulvish McCray's layup. UWL ended the first half on a 17-6 run to lead 45-34. 

Central (Iowa) cut the lead to 56-51 with 11:37 remaining, but UWL responded with a 10-0 run to lead 66-51 with 7:19 left as Nolan Wright scored seven points in the run. The Dutch could get no closer than six points the rest of the game.

UWL shot 48.4% from the field, including 31.8% (seven-of-22) from three-point range, and 60.9% (14-of-23) at the free throw line. The Eagles' bench held a 35-20 advantage over the Dutch. UWL finished with 38 points in the paint. 

Ben Meinholz led UWL with 18 points, five assists and five steals. Wright scored a career-high 14 points, going six-of-seven from the field and two-of-three at the free throw line. McCray also scored a career-high, finishing with 12 points. He added four rebounds, three assists and two steals. Tanner Bruchs had a career-high nine rebounds. All 10 players who appeared in the game scored for the Eagles.

Central (Iowa) shot 42.3% from the field, including 32.3% (10-of-31) from three-point range, and 76.2% (16-of-21) at the free throw line. The Dutch had 22 turnovers leading to 26 points for the Eagles. 

Malik Wildermuth led Central (Iowa) with 19 points while Trashawn Boyd finished with 12 points. Wildermuth had six rebounds while Posivio had a team-high seven. 

UWL returns to action Monday, November 20 at city-rival Viterbo University (Wis.) at 7 p.m.