River Falls, Wis. - The University of Wisconsin-La Crosse men's basketball team fell 73-59 at UW-River Falls Wednesday night in the Karges Center. The Eagles drop to 10-10 overall and 2-7 in the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (WIAC) while the Falcons move to 19-1, and stay unbeaten in the league at 9-0. UW-River Falls has won 17 straight games, and is ranked fourth on this week's D3hoops.com Top-25 Poll.
UWL started the game on a 12-0 run capped by a
Ben Meinholz layup with 14:34 to play in the first half. The Eagles went six-of-11 from the field to start the game. UW-River Falls tied the game at 20-20 with 2:54 remaining in the first half on a Alex Herink layup.
Ryan Kruser connected on a three-pointer with 1:19 left in the first half to end a 7-0 run to give the Eagles a 27-20 advantage before the Falcons scored the final six points of the half on back-to-back three-pointers from Matt Keller to cut UWL's halftime lead to 27-26.
UW-River Falls took its first lead of the game at the 16:50 mark of the second half after Devin Buckley's three-point field goal made it 37-34. UWL cut the lead to 41-40 with 14:14 left in the second half on a
Jack Kortes layup, but UW-River Falls used a 17-4 run to lead 58-44 with 9:25 remaining.
Kenny Finco's three-point play cut the lead to 58-47 with 9:13 left, but the Eagles could get no closer the rest of the game.
UWL shot 43.3% from the field, including 18.8% (three-of-16) from three-point range, and 57.1% (four-of-seven) at the free throw line. Finco scored 14 points to lead the Eagles, also leading the team with three steals. Meinholz added 10 points and six rebounds while
Zach Schradle finished with 10 points.
UW-River Falls shot 45.0% from the field, including 36.0% (nine-of-25) from three-point range, and 71.4% (10-of-14) at the line. Buckley led all scorers with 19 points with Keller and Herink both adding 16. Austin Heidecker led the Falcons with eight rebounds.
UWL returns to action Saturday, February 4 hosting UW-Platteville at 5 p.m. on Senior Day.
