La Crosse, Wis. - The University of Wisconsin-La Crosse men's basketball team dropped its third straight game with a 61-52 loss to UW-Eau Claire Saturday night in Mitchell Hall. The Eagles fall to 15-8 overall and 8-4 in the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (WIAC) while the Blugolds improve to 14-9 overall and 7-5 in the conference.
UWL took a 10-8 lead with 9:18 left in the first half on an
Ethan Anderson three-pointer and later led, 14-12, with 4:22 remaining after
Josh Dahlke's layup. Spencer Page's three-point field goal gave UW-Eau Claire a 15-14 lead with 3:29 remaining and the Blugolds would never trail the rest of the game. UW-Eau Claire took a 21-16 halftime lead as the teams combined to shoot 26.5% (13-of-49) from the field in the first 20 minutes. UW-Eau Claire shot 39.1% (nine-of-23) while UWL shot 15.4% (four-of-26).
Terek Nesheim's jumper for UWL with 19:22 left cut UW-Eau Claire's lead to 24-18, but the Blugolds used a 9-0 run to lead 33-18 with 11:04 remaining. The Eagles cut the deficit to 41-32 with 5:25 left on
Sam Skoyen's layup, but a three-pointer from Cam Kuepers gave the Blugolds a 44-32 advantage with 5:04 remaining. UW-Eau Claire led by as many as 16 points in the second half as UWL could get no closer than nine points in the final 1:43.
UWL shot 30.9% from the field, including 36.4% (eight-of-22) from three-point range, and 71.4% (10-of-14) at the free throw line.
Ben Meinholz led the Eagles with 13 points while
Tanner Bruchs finished with 12 points and team-high six rebounds.
UWL's 52 points and 30.9% shooting are both season-lows.
UW-Eau Claire shot 44.4% from the field, including 35.3% (six-of-17) from three-point range, and 88.2% (15-of-17) at the line. Page and Blake Wacholz led four Blugolds in double figures with 13 points while Kuepers and Bem Widdes each finished with 10. Sean Miller had a game-high eight rebounds.
UWL returns to action Wednesday, February 13 hosting third-ranked UW-Oshkosh at 7 p.m. It will be Senior Night in the Eagles' final regular-season game.
