La Crosse, Wis. - The University of Wisconsin-La Crosse men's basketball team improve to 2-0 on the season with a 76-64 victory over Luther College (Iowa) Wednesday night in Mitchell Hall. The Norse drop to 0-1 on the season.

The Eagles never trailed in the game, racing out to a 22-5 lead with 12:43 left in the first half. UWL hit nine of its first 15 shots from the field Wednesday night. The Norse cut the deficit to 27-19 with 8:05 left on a pair of Rahul Bagga free throws, but the Eagles used a Zac Haese three-pointer and Taulvish McCray layup for a 32-19 advantage with 6:09 remaining. Luther (Iowa) came back to cut the lead to 32-24 before UWL went on a 13-2 run to lead 45-26. The Eagles led 45-32 at halftime. 

UWL led 58-39 with 13:24 remaining when Luther (Iowa) cut the lead to 59-49 after a Anthony Westhusing three-point field goal. The Norse cut the deficit to 71-62 with 2:51 remaining, but could get no closer the rest of the game.

UWL shot 44.4% from the field, including 30.4% (seven-of-23) from three-point range, and 72.2% (13-of-18) at the line. Ben Meinholz and Terek Nesheim led the Eagles with 15 points each while Haese finished with 12 and McCray with 11. Brendon Manning had a game-high nine rebounds. 

With his 15 points, Meinholz now has 1,007 in his four-year career at UWL. He becomes the 16th player in school history to record 1,000 career points. Meinholz recorded his 1,000th point Wednesday night on a layup with 2:48 left in the first half.

Luther (Iowa) shot 42.0% from the field, including 36.8% (seven-of-19) from three-point range, and 50.0% (15-of-30) at the line. The Norse were eight-of-17 (47.1%) from the free throw line in the first half and seven-of-13 (53.8%) in the second half. Bagga led Luther (Iowa) with 12 points while Westhusing finished with 10. 

UWL returns to action Saturday, November 17 at Ripon College (Wis.) at 3 p.m.