Box Score St. Bonifacius, Minn. - The University of Wisconsin-La Crosse men's basketball team, ranked ninth on D3hoops.com, earned a 67-43 victory at Crown College (Minn.) Saturday afternoon. The Eagles improve to 9-2 while the Storm drop to 5-6.
In the second-ever meeting between the two teams, UWL took a 4-2 lead on
Ethan Anderson's jumper, but Crown (Minn.) scored the next seven points to lead 9-4 on Seth Royston's layup. The Eagles trailed, 13-10, with 10:58 left in the opening half when the Storm went on a 7-2 run to take their largest lead of the game at 20-12 with Cade Neubert's layup with 9:44 remaining.
UWL responded with an 8-0 run of its own to force a 20-20 tie with 4:18 left on Anderson's layup. Crown (Minn.) scored the game's nex four points for a 24-20 advantage, but another 8-0 run by the Eagles gave UWL a 28-24 lead with 3:27 remaining in the first half. UWL led, 32-25, at halftime as Anderson totaled 19 points in the opening 20 minutes.
Sean Suchomel had nine points, seven rebounds and five assists.
Wyatt Cook's three-pointer to open the second half gave UWL a 35-25 lead. Crown (Minn.) later cut the deficit to 45-38 with 12:27 left on Royston's three-pointer, but the Storm could get no closer the rest of the game. The Eagles went on a 8-0 run to lead 53-38 with 9:57 remaining.
Crown (Minn.) cut it to 56-43 with 9:04 left, but the Storm were held scoreless the rest of the game as the Eagles went on a 11-0 run.
UWL earned a 77-63 win over Crown (Minn.) in 2019-20 in the first ever meeting.
UWL shot 45.6% from the field Saturday, including 41.2% (seven-of-17) from three-point range, and 66.7% (eight-of-12) at the line. Anderson led the Eagles with 22 points while Cook finished with 10 points and seven rebounds.
Sean Suchomel totaled nine points, seven rebounds and team-high five assists.
Henry Noone added eight points and team-leading three steals.
Crown (Minn.) shot 30.2% from the field, including 26.9% (seven-of-26) from three-point range, and 36.4% (four-of-11) at the line. Jacob Van Dam led the Storm with 17 points while Royston totaled 10 points and game-high 11 rebounds. Neubert finished with eight points. Micah Ladd had a game-high six assists.
UWL returns to action Thursday, December 30 hosting Bethel University (Minn.) at 7 p.m.
