Oshkosh, Wis. - The University of Wisconsin-La Crosse men's basketball team fell 76-74 at UW-Oshkosh Wednesday night in Kolf Sports Center in the first round of the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (WIAC) Championships (presented by Culver's). The Eagles finish their season at 13-13 while the Titans, ranked 19th on this week's D3hoops.com Top-25 Poll, improve to 20-6. Third-seeded UW-Oshkosh advances to play at second-seeded UW-Stevens Point in the conference tournament semifinals Friday, February 23.

UW-Oshkosh never trailed in the first half, racing out to a 9-2 lead as it made four of its first five shots from the field. The Titans took their largest lead of the first half at 23-14 with 9:13 remaining on a pair of Brett Wittchow free throws. UWL trailed 26-18 with 6:23 left when it went on a 7-0 run to cut the deficit to 26-25 with 4:04 remaining after Terek Nesheim's layup. UW-Oshkosh took a 38-32 advantage with :04 left on Ben Boots' four-point play, but UWL's Ben Meinholz connected a three-point field goal with :01 to cut the lead to 38-35 at halftime.

UWL, seeded sixth in the tournament, took its first lead of the game at 39-38 with 18:45 left on Lane Von Rueden's layup. The Eagles led 47-44 with 14:18 remaining when they used a 11-0 run to lead 58-44 with 10:18 left. Meinholz had nine of UWL's 11 points in the run, including a pair of dunks. UW-Oshkosh responded with a 10-0 run of its own to cut the lead to 58-54 with 8:45 remaining after a Boots' three-pointer. Tanner Bruchs' jumper with 7:07 left gave UWL a 64-57 lead when Wittchow made a pair of free throws and Boots another three-point field goal to make it 64-62 with 6:14 remaining.

Layups from Von Rueden and Brendon Manning for UWL provided the Eagles with a 68-62 lead with 5:32 left. The Titans came back with a 8-2 run to force a 70-70 tie with 2:43 remaining on an Adam Fravert dunk. Meinholz made a pair of jumpers, including a go-ahead shot with 1:46 left, to give UWL a 74-72 lead. Wittchow made two free throws to tie it at 74-74 with 1:26 remaining. Meinholz missed a jumper with :29 left and UW-Oshkosh secured the rebound. Flynn then scored the eventual game-winning layup on an assist from Boots with :04 remaining. UWL in-bounded the ball with Meinholz hitting the front of the rim on a three-point attempt with :01 left.

UWL shot a season-high 61.1% (33-of-54) from the field Wednesday, including 63.0% (17-of-27) in the second half. The Eagles shot 36.4% (four-of-11) from three-point range for the game and 100.0% (four-of-four) at the line.

Meinholz led UWL with 24 points, going 11-of-15 from the field, including two-of-three from three-point range. He also had a team-high six rebounds. Meinholz now ranks 17th in school history with 992 career points. Taulvish McCray totaled 14 points Wednesday, finishing seven-of-13 from the field. Manning had 12 points on four-of-six shooting from the field and making all four of UWL's free throw attempts.

UW-Oshkosh shot 46.9% from the field, including 38.5% (10-of-26) from three-point range, and 83.3% (20-of-24) at the line.

Flynn led the Titans with 22 points, finishing eight-of-nine from the field and six-of-eight at the free throw line. He also had a game-high nine rebounds. Fravert had 16 points while Boots finished with 15 and Wittchow 10. Fravert went six-of-11 from the field, including three-of-five from three-point range, and one-of-two at the line. Boots was four-of-eight from three-point range and three-of-three at the line while Wittchow was eight-of-nine at the line.