St. Paul, Minn. – The University of Wisconsin-La Crosse men's basketball team earned a 69-64 victory at Bethel University (Minn.) Saturday afternoon in Robertson Center Gymnasium.  The win moves the Eagles to 3-2 on the season while the Royals fall to 2-2 on the year.

Bethel (Minn.) led for the first seven minutes of the contest before UWL took a 12-8 lead with just under 12:00 to play. The Royals then scored eight of the next 11 points to take a 16-15 lead. UWL went on a 13-3 run to take its largest lead of the game at 28-19 with 5:56 left in the opening half. Ethan Anderson sparked the run with both of his three-pointers while Brendon Manning chipped in four points. Bethel (Minn.) closed the first half with a 17-8 run to tie the contest at 36.

Manning led the Eagles in the opening period by scoring 14 of his game-high 24 points. Manning was a perfect seven-for-seven from the floor. Derek Magnuson led the Royals in the first half with 13 points and six rebounds.

UWL would take a 51-50 lead with 11:09 on the clock, but Bethel (Minn.) quickly scored 12 of the next 15 points to take its largest lead at 62-54 with 5:42 remaining. The Eagles would hold the Royals to just two points the rest of the way as they finished the game with a 15-2 run. Sam Skoyen's three-point field goal, a Manning layup and Ben Meinholz three-point play tied the game at 62-62 with 3:28 left. After a Bethel (Minn.) turnover, Taulvish McCray hit a go-ahead three-pointer with 2:05 remaining. Magnuson's layup with 1:46 left cut the lead to 65-64, but Manning's layup with 1:02 remaining gave UWL a 67-64 advantage. The Royals missed three-point field goals with :10 and :06 remaining while Manning hit a pair of free throws with :02 for the final margin.

After shooting 53.3% (16-30) from the floor in the first half, UWL finished at 46.6% (27-of-58) overall, including 33.3% (six-of-18) from three-point range. The Eagles shot 75.0% (nine-of-12) at the free throw line. Joining Manning in double figures for the Eagles was Anderson with 11 points. Ben Meinholz finished with nine points, five assists and four steals. Manning has scored 20 or more points in three of the Eagles' first five games. He had a team-high six rebounds Saturday while Sam Burkart finished five rebounds and added seven points.

Bethel (Minn.) shot 52.1% (25-of-48) from the floor, including 41.7% (five-of-12) from the three-point line. The Royals shot 90.0% (nine-of-10) at the line. Magnuson led the Royals with 23 points and 11 rebounds while Jack Jenson finished with 19 points and six assists.

UWL will be back in action Saturday, December 1, when it travels to Pella, Iowa to play Central College (Iowa) at 3 p.m.