La Crosse, Wis. - The University of Wisconsin-La Crosse men's basketball team picked up its fifth straight win to start the season with an 83-56 win over Buena Vista University (Iowa) Saturday afternoon at Mitchell Hall. The Eagles, ranked 15th on the D3hoops.com Top-25 Preseason Poll, improve to 5-0 overall while the Beavers fall to 2-2.

While UWL was held scoreless over the first 3:28 of the game, Buena Vista built an early 9-0 lead by hitting three straight three-pointers. The Eagles cut their deficit to two (11-9) as Wyatt Cook scored seven of the nine points. After Buena Vista took a 17-12 lead, UWL would score 14 of the next 22 points to take its first lead of the game at 26-25 (6:33). The Eagles would not relinquish the lead the rest of the game as they led 36-28 at the half.
 

Buena Vista cut their deficit to three (39-36) early in the second half but that would be as close as the Beavers would get. The Eagles responded by scoring nine of the next 11 points to lead 48-38 (14:06). UWL would use a 19-2 run midway through the second half to extend its lead to 70-46 (5:53) and the Beavers would not get any closer than 21 the rest of the way.

The Eagles finished with four players in double figures led by a game-high 20 points from Ethan Anderson while Henry Noone had 15 points and Cook and Austin Westra each had 13. Sean Suchomel led the Eagles with game highs in rebounds (8) and assists (5). Garrett Sittner led the Beavers with 13 points.

After shooting 14-34 (41.2%) from the floor in the first half, Eagles finished 31-62 (50%) overall and 9-13 (69.2%) from the free throw line. UWL shot 8-11 (72.7%) from the three-point line in the second half and 12-23 (52.2%) for the game. Buena Vista was 17-51 (33.3%) from the floor and 18-29 (62.1%) from the free throw line. The Eagles finished with 19 assists and a 42-33 advantage on the boards.

UWL will return to action on Tuesday night when they travel to Ripon College (Wis.) for a 7 p.m. start.