La Crosse, Wis. - The University of Wisconsin-La Crosse men's basketball team fell 65-63 to UW-Whitewater Wednesday night in Mitchell Hall. The Eagles, ranked 16th on D3hoops.com, drops to 15-3 overall and 5-3 in the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (WIAC) while the Warhawks improve to 7-12 overall and 2-6 in the conference. The game started the second half of league play. 

Neither team led by more than six points in the first half Wednesday night. UW-Whitewater took a 20-14 lead with 9:44 remaining on Breontae Hunt's three-pointer, but UWL used a 8-0 run to take a 24-20 lead with 6:22 left. Luke Norcia and Zac Haese each hit a three-pointer in the run while Terek Nesheim hit back-to-back jumpers to give the Eagles a four-point lead.

 Bailey Kale's jumper for UW-Whitewater tied the game, 26-26, with 3:16 remaining, but Ethan Anderson and Norcia each had a layup to give UWL a 30-26 halftime lead.  

The Warhawks opened the second half on a 10-2 run to lead, 36-32, with Kale scoring four points and Hunt making consecutive three-pointers. The Eagles responded with an 11-3 run to take a 43-39 lead with 15:40 left after Anderson's three-point field goal. UWL took its largest lead of the game at 49-43 with 12:05 remaining before UW-Whitewater forced a 56-56 tie with 6:09 left on Hunt's layup. Nesheim's jumper gave UWL a two-point lead and Anderson's jumper with 5:00 left made it a four-point game.  

Nesheim made it 61-56 with 3:15 remaining with a free throw, but UW-Whitewater finished the game scoring nine of the final 11 points. Kale's three-pointer with 1:27 left gave the Warhawks a 63-61 lead. Wyatt Cook tied the game on a layup with 1:02 remaining, but missed a free throw to keep the game tied at 63-63. Kale hit a jumper with :34 left to give UW-Whitewater a 65-63 lead. 

Each team had a turnover on their next possessions with the Warhawks turning the ball over with :07 left and fouling Sam Burkart. He missed the front end of the one-and-one with Hunt grabbing the rebound and getting fouled. Hunt also missed the front end of the one-and-one.

Without a timeout, UWL raced down the court with the ball being tipped out-of-bounds with :02 remaining. Nesheim potential game-tying jumper was blocked by James Burks III at the buzzer to give UW-Whitewater the two-point win. 

UWL shot 37.7% from the field, including 33.3% (10-of-30) from three-point range, and 58.3% (seven-of-12) at the line. Anderson led the Eagles with 19 points while Nesheim and Haese each finished with 11. Henry Noone totaled nine points off the bench while Cook finished with seven points and team-high seven rebounds.

UW-Whitewater shot 47.2% from the field, including 41.2% (seven-of-17) from three-point range, and 80.0% (eight-of-10) at the line. Kale led the Warhawks with 18 points while Hunt finished with 17 points and game-high 10 rebounds. 

UWL returns to action Saturday, February 1 hosting Crown College (Minn.) at 3 p.m.