Eau Claire, Wis. - The University of Wisconsin-La Crosse men's basketball team earned a 57-56 win over UW-Eau Claire Wednesday night in the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (WIAC) opener for both teams at Zorn Arena.  The Eagles improve to 9-3 overall and 1-0 in the WIAC while the Blugolds drop to 8-4 and 0-1 in conference play. 
 
With the score tied at 5-5 with 17:57 remaining in the first half, UWL went on a 10-2 run capped with a Ben Meinholz jumper to make it 15-7 with 11:29 to go.  The Eagles led by as many as nine points at 27-18 after a Taulvish McCray three-pointer with 5:52 left.  A 10-0 run from UW-Eau Claire put the Blugolds up 28-27 with 1:56 remaining, but McCray hit a three-point field goal, followed by a layup on the next possession to put UWL back ahead 32-28 with :38 remaining. The Eagles led 32-30 at halftime. 
 
The teams traded leads throughout the second half. UW-Eau Claire led by three points at 50-47 with 3:43 to play after a pair of George Diekelman free throws.  Milton Cummings made a layup for UWL on the next possession to cut it to 50-49 with 3:17 left.  After a jumper from Chris Duff put the Blugolds back ahead by three at 52-49 at 2:55, Nolan Wright hit a jumper to again cut it to one point at 52-51 with 2:37 remaining. 
 
UW-Eau Claire scored on its next possession to lead again by three at 54-51 with 2:23 left.  Wright answered for UWL with a jumper to again pull within one at 54-53 with 1:57 to go.  After a UW-Eau Claire turnover, Cummings made a layup to give UWL the lead at 55-54 with 1:17 remaining, and after another Blugolds' turnover, McCray's reverse layup with :25 left put the Eagles up 57-54. 
 
UW-Eau Claire missed on a three-point attempt, got the offensive rebound and called a timeout.  After another three-point miss with :09 left, UW-Eau Claire's Dan Becken got the offensive rebound and was fouled on a three-point attempt with :03 remaining. Becken hit the first two free throws to make it 57-56, but missed the third attempt and UWL secured the rebound as it held on for the victory. 

UWL shot 44.6% from the field, including 27.8% (five-of-18) from three-point range, and 66.7% (two-of-three) at the free throw line.  The two free throws and three attempts from the line were season-lows for the Eagles.  UWL forced 19 UW-Eau Claire turnovers.   
 
McCray led UWL with 19 points, finishing eight-of-12 from the field, including three-of-four from three-point range.  Cummings and Wright added eight points each for the Eagles.  Cummings had a team-high seven rebounds, while McCray and Terek Nesheim each had two assists in the game.    
 
UW-Eau Claire shot 44.7%, including 30.4% (seven-of-23) from three-point range, and 63.6% (seven-of-11) at the line.  Diekelman led the Blugolds with 12 points, while Duff and Cole Rabedeaux each added 11.  Becken had a team-high 10 rebounds for UW-Eau Claire. 

UWL returns to action Saturday, January 6 hosting seventh-ranked UW-Oshkosh at 5 p.m.