La Crosse, Wis. - The University of Wisconsin-La Crosse men's basketball team fell 72-65 in its Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (WIAC) home opener to seventh-ranked UW-Oshkosh Saturday night in Mitchell Hall. The Eagles drop to 9-4 overall and 1-1 in the WIAC while the Titans improve to 11-2 overall and 1-1 in the conference. UW-Oshkosh entered the game ranked seventh on this week's D3hoops.com Top-25 Poll.
UWL led 10-8 with 13:44 left in the first half when it used a 9-2 run to lead 19-10 with 8:42 remaining after
Brendon Manning's layup. The Eagles led 26-15 with 5:08 left, but the Titans cut the halftime lead to 30-26 with an 11-4 run.
UW-Oshkosh scored the first eight points of the second half to lead 36-30, hitting its first five shots from the field. The Eagles went on an 9-0 run to lead 39-36 on a pair of
Terek Nesheim baskets, a
Jack Kortes layup and
Sam Skoyen three-point field goal. UWL led 41-39 advantage with 12:51 remaining after Lane Von
Sam Skoyen finished with 13 points off the bench Saturday night.
Rueden's layup, but UW-Oshkosh scored the game's next five points to lead 44-41.
Luke Norcia's layup for UWL cut the lead to 44-43, but UW-Oshkosh went on an 7-0 run to lead 51-43 with 8:17 left.
Taulvish McCray's three-pointer later cut the deficit to 53-48, but Jack Flynn hit a pair of layups and Brett Wittchow's three-point play gave UW-Oshkosh a 60-50 advantage. UWL came back with a 11-3 run of its own to cut it to 63-61 with 1:45 remaining after Kortes made one-of-two free throws. A pair of Ben Boots free throws for UW-Oshkosh gave the Titans a 65-61 lead with 1:31 remaining and Wittchow made a three-point field goal with 1:04 left for a 68-62 lead. Boots made two free throws with :28 left and with :18 remaining for UW-Oshkosh.
UWL shot 44.3% from the field, including 31.3% (five-of-16) from three-point range, and 33.3% (six-of-18) at the free throw line. Manning led three players in double figures with 16 points while Skoyen and Kortes each scored 13 points off the bench. Manning had a team-high five rebounds.
UW-Oshkosh shot 50.0% from the field, including 40.0% (four-of-10) from three-point range, and 68.8% (22-of-32) at the line. Flynn led three players in double figures for the Titans with 24 points, going nine-of-nine from the field and six-of-12 at the line. He also had 10 rebounds. Wittchow finished with 16 points and Boots 13. Adam Fravert had a team-leading 11 rebounds.
UWL returns to action Wednesday, January 10 at UW-Stevens Point at 7 p.m.
