La Crosse, Wis. - The University of Wisconsin-La Crosse men's basketball team, ranked 14th on D3hoops.com, earned a 65-57 victory over 10th-ranked UW-Platteville Wednesday night in Mitchell Hall. The Eagles improve to 6-1 overall while the Pioneers drop to 5-2. Both teams are 5-1 in Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (WIAC) division contests.
UWL took its largest lead of the first half with 8:55 left after a
Craig Steele three-point field goal to make it 20-12. UW-Platteville used a 10-0 run to take a 22-20 lead with 5:01 remaining on a Quentin Shields layup. The contest was tied 24-24 before Shields hit a jumper with :37 remaining to give the Pioneers a 26-24 halftime advantage.
Sean Suchomel had eight points, seven rebounds and six assists.
The Eagles opened the second half on a 11-2 run to take a 35-28 lead with 15:12 left on a pair of
Seth Anderson free throws. UW-Platteville was held to one field goal in the first 6:10 of the second half until Drew Gunnink connected on a three-pointer to cut UWL's lead to 37-34. The Eagles took a 46-38 lead with 9:51 remaining on Will Fuhrman's layup before the Pioneers later tied the game, 55-55, with 3:10 left on a Gunnink layup.
Wyatt Cook's jumper with 3:29 left after a timeout gave UWL a 57-55 lead and the Eagles would never trail the rest of the game.
Ethan Anderson made two free throws with 2:46 remaining made it 59-55 and Fuhrmann's jumper with 2:02 left gave UWL a six-point lead. Justin Fox made a pair of free throws for UW-Platteville to cut the lead to 61-57 with 1:28 remaining, but Cook's layup with 1:06 left gave UWL a 63-57 lead. The Pioneers missed their final five shots from the field.
UWL shot 50.9% from the field, including 57.1% (16-of-28) in the second half. The Eagles shot 26.7% (four-of-15) from three-point range overall and 70.0% (seven-of-10) at the free throw line.
Seth Anderson tied his career-high with 19 points, finishing eight-of-12 from the field and three-of-four at the line. Cook finished with 14 points while
Ethan Anderson totaled 10 points and six rebounds.
Sean Suchomel finished with eight points and team-high seven rebounds and six assists.
UW-Platteville shot 31.4% from the field, including 23.1% (six-of-26) from three-point range, and 79.2% (19-of-24) at the line. Shields led the Pioneers with 25 points while Kyle Tuma finished with 11 points.
The teams will play Friday, February 26 at UW-Platteville at 7 p.m.
