La Crosse, Wis. - The University of Wisconsin-La Crosse men's basketball team improved to 10-0 on the season with a 64-62 win over Augustana College (Ill.) Sunday afternoon in Mitchell Hall.  The Eagles, ranked 15th on the D3hoops.com Top-25 Poll, improve to 4-0 at home this season. Augustana (Ill.), receiving votes on the D3hoops.com Top-25 Poll, drops to 7-4 on the season. 

The Eagles' 10-0 record is their best start in 56 seasons when UWL won its first 12 games to begin the 1964-65 season.

UWL made its first seven shots from the field while Augustana (Ill.) made its first five field goals. The Eagles took a 21-15 lead with 11:38 remaining in the first half on a Zac Haese three-pointer.  The Vikings came back to force a 25-25 tie on Jack McDonald's layup with 4:32 left.  Augustana (Ill.) took its largest lead of the game at 31-27 after a pair of Micah Martin free throws with 2:11 remaining.  UWL took a 33-32 halftime lead after Wyatt Cook converted a pair of free throws with :30 left.  

The Vikings led, 46-45 with 12:19 remaining in the game on a Martin dunk, but the Eagles used a 14-3 run to take a 59-49 lead on Luke Norcia's layup. UWL led 64-56 with 2:59 left, but a pair of Jacob Pauley free throws with 2:38 remaining and a Pierson Wofford three-pointer with 1:45 left cut the lead to 64-61. Both teams missed jumpers with less than 1:00 remaining.  After a UWL turnover, Augustana's (Ill.) Jack Jelen was fouled with :03 left. He converted the first free throw and after a Vikings' timeout, intentionally missed the second free throw with Augustana (Ill.) getting the rebound after the ball went out-of-bounds off UWL. Each team called a timeout with :02 remaining and Wofford's jumper at the buzzer was blocked by Cook to secure the win for UWL.

UWL shot 49.0% from the field, including 58.3% (seven-of-12) from three-point range, and 56.3% (nine-of-16) at the free throw line. All five starters scored in double figures for the Eagles with Terek Nesheim finishing with a team-high 14 points. He also had five rebounds. Haese finished with 12 points while Cook and Ethan Anderson each had 11.  Norcia had 10 points and team-high eight rebounds and two steals. 

Augustana (Ill.) shot 41.1% from the field, including 13.0% (three-of-23) from three-point range, and 59.1% (13-of-22) at the line. Martin led the Vikings with 19 points and five blocks while finishing with seven rebounds. Wofford had 13 points and team-high eight rebounds. 

UWL returns to action Saturday, January 4 opening Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (WIAC) play at UW-Oshkosh at 5 p.m.