La Crosse, Wis. – The University of Wisconsin-La Crosse men's basketball team got a double-double from
Brendon Manning to lead them to a 70-60 win over St. Mary's University (Minn.) Sunday night in Mitchell Hall. The win moves UWL to 1-0 on the season while Saint Mary's (Minn.) falls to 1-1.
Manning got the 2018-19 season off to a great start as he finished with 30 points and 11 rebounds for his second career double-double. The 30 points is a career high for Manning and is the most points for an Eagles' player since Skylar Cameron scored 31 points against Carthage College (Wis.) on November 22, 2014. Manning finished the game shooting 11-of-12 from the floor and eight-of-10 at the free throw line.
After St. Mary's (Minn.) cut its deficit to 23-22, UWL went on a 10-1 run to take its largest lead of the first half with 2:44 remaining. Manning scored six of the 10 points to spark the run. Kevin Gleason would cut the Saint Mary's (Minn.) deficit to five (35-30) on a three-pointer with :16 remaining before
Taulvish McCray would hit a jumper with eight seconds remaining as UWL took a 37-30 lead at the half.
Terek Nesheim scored 10 points.
The Cardinals of St. Mary's University (Minn.) would score 11 of the first 17 points to start the second half as they closed to within two at 43-41 (14:01). But that would be as close as the Cardinals would get as the Eagles would score 15 of the next 17 points to take its largest lead of the game at 58-43 (7:42). SMU would not get any closer than seven (59-52, 6:03) the rest of the way.
Joining Manning in double figures for the Eagles was
Terek Nesheim with 10 points while McCray chipped in nine points.
The Cardinals also had two scorers in double figures as Eli Cave finished with 20 points and Kareem Anthony-Bello chipped in 18. Anthony-Bello led St. Mary's (Minn.) with seven rebounds while Caden Freetly finished with six.
After shooting 60.7% (17-28) in the first half, the Eagles cooled off a bit and finished 26-50 (52.0%) from the floor including 3-11 (27.3%) from the three-point line. The Cardinals finished 22-51 (43.1%) from the floor including eight-of-24 (33.3%) from behind the three-point line.
UWL returns to action Wednesday, November 14 hosting Luther College (Iowa) in a 7 p.m. start.
