La Crosse, Wis. – The University of Wisconsin-La Crosse men's basketball team defeated the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point, 60-52, Thursday night at Mitchell Hall.
The win is the second of the season for UWL over UW-Stevens Point, marking the first time the Eagles earned the regular-season sweep of the Pointers since the 1994-95 season. UWL earned a 61-57 victory January 16 in Stevens Point.
Terek Nesheim scored 10 of his 12 points in the second half.
The win moves the Eagles, ranked 25th in this week's D3hoops.com top-25 poll, to 15-5 overall and 8-1 in Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (WIAC). The Pointers, ranked 20th on D3hoops.com, fall to 13-6 overall and 5-4 in the WIAC.
With the score tied at 36 in the second half, UWL went on a 13-6 run to take a 49-42 lead with 8:15 remaining in the game. UWSP would cut their deficit to 51-47, but UWL's
Terek Nesheim scored the next five points to give the Eagles their largest lead of the contest at 56-47 with 2:03 remaining. The Pointers cut the deficit to 56-52 (1:13), but the Eagles would hit four of their final five free throws to seal the win.
The first half saw the two teams trade baskets and neither team would take a lead larger than two points over the first 11:12 of the game. After UWL took an 18-16 lead, UW-Stevens Point scored 11 of the next 14 points to take its largest lead of the game at 27-21 with 4:40 left in the opening period. There was not much scoring over the last 4:30 of the first half as UWL scored a jumper with :17 left to trail 27-23 at the half.
UWL shot 47.1% from the field, including 16.7% (two-of-12) from three-point range, and 76.9% (10-of-13) at the free throw line.
Ben Meinholz scored 12 of his team-high 15 points in the second half to lead the Eagles while Nesheim finished with 12 points. Meinholz also grabbed a team-high nine rebounds along with five steals.
UWL held UWSP's offense to its lowest scoring output of the season as the Pointers shot 41.2% from the field, including 20.8% (five-of-24) from three-point range, as well as 71.4% (five-of-seven) at the line. The Pointers were led by Canon O'Heron with 18 points while Drew Fredrickson chipped in 10 points and a team-high nine rebounds.
UWL will look to extend its winning streak to four games as it hosts UW-Platteville Saturday, February 2 at 5 p.m. on Alumni Night.
