Platteville, Wis. - The University of Wisconsin-La Crosse men's basketball team improved to 9-4 overall and 2-0 in the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (WIAC) with a 80-76 win at UW-Platteville Saturday night on Bo Ryan Court. The Pioneers drop to 7-6 overall and 0-2 in the conference.

It marks UWL's first 2-0 start to league play since 2015-16. 

The Eagles led by as many as five points in the first half, including 26-21 with 8:22 left after a Terek Nesheim three-pointer. The Pioneers scored five straight points to force a tie on Kyle Tuma's three-pointer and Quentin Shields' layup. The game was tied, 30-30, when UW-Platteville went on a 10-0 run to lead, 40-30 with 1:13 left in the first half. Robert Duax scored five points in the run. The Pioneers led, 42-34, at halftime.

UWL opened the second half on a 14-4 run to take a 48-46 lead with 16:48 left on a pair of Ben Meinholz free throws. UW-Platteville responded with a 8-0 run of its own to lead, 54-46, on a Shields' layup. Tanner Bruchs hit a three-pointer for UWL with 8:52 left to give the Eagles a 59-58 advantage and UWL would not trail the rest of the game. Duax made one-of-two free throws with 4:30 left to cut the lead to 64-61, but UWL scored the next seven points to lead 71-61 with 1:14 remaining. UW-Platteville could get no closer than the final margin of four on a Tuma three-pointer with :02 left.

The Eagles went 11-of-12 at the free throw line in the final 1:14 with Taulvish McCray going six-of-six and Brendon Manning four-of-four.

UWL shot 52.9% from the field Saturday, including 38.5% (five-of-13) from three-point range, and 80.8% (21-of-26) at the free throw line. The Eagles finished with 40 points in the paint. Manning led UWL with 20 points and nine rebounds while finishing seven-of-10 from the field and six-of-six at the line. Meinholz and Nesheim each scored 14 points while McCray finished with 12.  Bruchs had nine points and Ethan Anderson seven.

UW-Platteville shot 48.4% from the field, including 32.0% (eight-of-25) from three-point range, and 72.7% (eight-of-11) at the line. Shields led the Pioneers with 28 points while Duax finished with 17 points and team-high nine rebounds.

UWL returns to action Wednesday, January 9 at UW-Eau Claire at 7 p.m.