La Crosse, Wis. - The University of Wisconsin-La Crosse men's basketball team snapped a three-game losing streak with a 62-54 win over UW-River Falls Wednesday night in Mitchell Hall.  The Eagles improve to 10-6 overall and 2-3 in the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (WIAC), while the Falcons, ranked 13th on this week's D3hoops.com Top-25 Poll, fall to 11-4 overall and 2-3 in the conference.  

In the first half, the lead changed hands six times, with UW-River Falls leading by as many as four points on two occasions.  UWL took the lead 17-16 on a three-pointer from Taulvish McCray with 6:40 left in the half.  UWL matched its biggest lead of the half after a Ben Meinholz three made it 24-19 at the 4:27 mark. 

The Falcons used a 6-0 run to go back ahead 25-24 after a Devin Buckley free throw with 2:02 to play.  Meinholz put the Eagles back ahead 26-25 on a layup with 1:37 left.  Terek Nesheim hit one-of-two free throws at 1:16, and a layup from Meinholz with :36 left gave UWL a 29-25 halftime lead. 
 
The Eagles never trailed in the second half, and led by eight points after a three-pointer from Tanner Bruchs made it 36-28 with 16:32 to play.  UW-River Falls cut the lead down to two points on two occasions over the next six minutes, but UWL was able to stay in the lead, and led by seven after a Sam Skoyen three made it 46-39 with 10:17 remaining.  A Milton Cummings three-point field goal again extended the lead to seven at 49-42 with 8:39 left.
 
UW-River Falls went on a 5-0 run, and it was 49-47 with 7:08 to go.  The Falcons kept the margin under five, and got within two points at 54-52 with 3:31 remaining, and 56-54 with 2:03 left.  McCray hit a jumper to go up 58-54 with :27 left, then stole the ball, got fouled, and hit both free throws to put the game out of reach at 60-54 with :14 remaining.  Cummings hit two more free throws in the final seconds and UWL secured the 62-54 win. 

UWL shot 42.6% from the field, including 43.8% (seven-of-16) from three-point range, and 69.2% (nine-of-13) at the free throw line.  McCray and Meinholz led the Eagles with 14 points each.  McCray had six steals and Manning led the team with six rebounds. 

UW-River Falls shot 30.2% from the field, including 23.5% (four-of-17) from three-point range, and 78.3% (18-of-23) at the line.  Matt Keller led the Falcons with 15 points while Alex Herink added 13.  Brennan Witt had a game-high 13 rebounds.   

UWL returns to action Saturday, January 20 hosting second-ranked UW-Whitewater at 5 p.m.