La Crosse, Wis. - The University of Wisconsin-La Crosse men's basketball team opened Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (WIAC) play with a 73-67 loss to UW-Platteville Wednesday night in Mitchell Hall. The game featured a pair of top-eight teams in this week's D3hoops.com Top-25 Poll. UWL, ranked eighth, fell to 7-1 overall with the loss while fourth-ranked UW-Platteville improves to 8-0. 
 
UWL trailed, 12-10, with 13:47 left in the first half on a pair of Austin Westra free throws, but UW-Platteville used a 9-0 run to lead 21-10 as Kyle Tuma hit three free throws with 10:27 remaining. UWL responded with a 15-2 run to take a 25-23 lead with 5:48 left on a Westra layup. After Quentin Shields' layup forced a 25-25 tie for the Pioneers, Torin Hannah's layup and three-point basket gave the Eagles a 30-25 advantage. Ben Probst hit a three-pointer and Justin Stovall had a dunk for UW-Platteville to tie the contest, 30-30, with 1:53 remaining. 
 

Ethan Anderson's jumper with 1:06 left gave UWL a 32-30 lead, but Stovall's jumper with :37 remaining tied the game at halftime, 32-32.

Neither team led by more than four points in the first 10:00 of the second half. UWL took a 51-47 lead with 10:39 remaining on Henry Noone's three-pointer, but UW-Platteville used an 11-0 run to take a 58-51 advantage with 6:37 left. Shields' layup gave the Pioneers a two-point lead with 7:50 remaining and after an Eagles' missed jumper, Alex Ranney connected on a three-pointer for a five point lead. Tuma's two free throws with 6:37 remaining gave UW-Platteville its seven point lead. 

Seth Anderson's three-point play cut it to 58-54 with 4:55 left before a jumper from Shields and pair of free throws from Tuma gave UW-Platteville a 62-54 lead. UWL cut it to 71-67 with :11 remaining on Wyatt Cook's three-pointer, but the Eagles could get no closer. The Pioneers went eight-of-eight at the line in the final 1:33. 

UWL shot 44.8% from the field, including 40.9% (nine-of-22) from three-point range, and 75.0% (six-of-eight) at the line. Ethan Anderson led the Eagles with a game-high 23 points while Cook finished with 10 points. Seth Anderson and Hannah each finished with seven points. Ethan Anderson and Sean Suchomel had five rebounds while Suchomel finished with a game-high nine assists.  

UW-Platteville shot 48.1% from the field, including 30.0% (six-of-20) from three-point range, and 81.0% (17-of-21) at the line. Shields had a team-high 22 points while Tuma finished with 19. Stovall had 10 points and game-high 10 rebounds.

UWL returns to action Saturday, December 4 hosting 10th-ranked UW-Oshkosh at 7 p.m.