La Crosse, Wis. - The University of Wisconsin-La Crosse men's basketball team, ranked 15th on this week's D3hoops.com Top-25 Poll, improved to 7-0 on the season with a 54-53 victory over Ripon College (Wis.) Wednesday night in Mitchell Hall. The Red Hawks drop to 5-3 on the season.
UWL led 14-8 with 11:20 left in the first half on a Henry Noone three-pointer. Ripon (Wis.) cut the deficit 17-13 with 8:40 left on a Trent Jones jumper, but UWL scored the game's next six points to take a 23-13 lead on a pair of Wyatt Cook free throws. The Eagles took their largest lead of the game at 31-16 with 4:34 left on a Cook three-pointer. A Ryan Steffes jumper and Seth Kostroski three-pointer for the Red Hawks cut the halftime deficit to 31-21.
UWL shot 38.5% from the field in the first half, including 58.3% (seven-of-12) from three-point range, and 50.0% (four-of-eight) at the line. Cook and Ethan Anderson each had nine points while Anderson had three rebounds. Zac Haese finished with eight points. Sean Suchomel recorded four assists and three rebounds.
Zac Haese had the game-winning basket Wednesday night.
Ripon (Wis.) shot 36.0% from the field in the first half, including 33.3% (three-of-nine) from three-point range. Kostroski led the Red Hawks with six points. Owen Theune had four rebounds.
UWL led 40-30 with 15:08 left in the game when Ripon (Wis.) went on a 14-3 run to take a 44-43 lead as Jones hit three free throws with 8:53 remaining. Kyle Rutkowski two free throws with 4:54 left and Kyle Rutkowski's layup with 2:53 remaining gave the Red Hawks a 51-47 lead. Haese hit a three-pointer with 2:00 left to cut the lead to 51-50 and after a Ripon (Wis.) turnover, Cook's layup with :29 remaining gave UWL a 52-51 advantage. Jones' two free throws with :15 left gave the lead back to Ripon (Wis.) at 53-52. On the ensuing possession, Suchomel missed on a layup for UWL, but Haese got the offensive rebound and put back with :03 left to give the Eagles a one-point lead. Jones missed a half-court shot at the buzzer.
UWL shot 33.3% from the field, including 41.7% (10-of-24) from three-point range, and 54.5% (six-of-11) at the line. Cook led the Eagles with 17 points and three steals. Anderson had 15 points and team-high eight rebounds and two blocks while Haese finished with 15 points and two steals. Suchomel had a team-high six assists while also finishing with seven rebounds.
Ripon (Wis.) shot 40.0% from the field, including 35.3% (six-of-17) from three-point range, and 84.6% (11-of-13) at the line. Jones led the Red Hawks with 17 points while Kostroski finished with 12. Theune had a game-high 12 rebounds.
UWL returns to action Friday, December 20 at Willamette University (Ore.) at 2 p.m.
