La Crosse, Wis. - The University of Wisconsin-La Crosse men's basketball team, ranked 11th on D3hoops.com, extended its winning streak to five with a 77-66 victory over UW-River Falls Wednesday night in Mitchell Hall. The Eagles improve to 12-2 overall and 3-2 in the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (WIAC) while the Falcons drop to 7-6 overall an 0-4 in the conference.
UWL never trailed in Wednesday's contest, scoring the first eight points of the game.
Sean Suchomel hit a pair of free throws to start the game followed by a pair of
Seth Anderson layups.
Ethan Anderson's jumper with 17:08 left made it 8-0. With the jumper, Anderson scored her 1,000th career point. UW-River Falls cut the lead to 13-9 with 14:38 remaining on Rodrick Payne's hook shot and tied the game at 15-15 with 12:10 left on Noah Hanson's three-pointer.
Torin Hannah's two free throws with 11:58 remaining gave UWL a 17-15 lead as the Eagles used a 7-0 run to lead 22-15.
Austin Westra had 15 points and eight rebounds.
Marshall Holland's three-point basket for UW-River Falls cut UWL's lead to 24-20 with 7:52 remaining, but
Austin Westra scored the game's next five points to give the Eagles a 29-20 lead. The Falcons cut it to 31-27 with 2:37 left, but the Eagles went on a 7-2 run to end the half and take a 38-29 lead.
UW-River Falls cut the lead to 40-37 with 17:43 remaining on Payne's three-point play. Holland's three-pointer with 14:01 left cut the deficit to 50-48, but layups from Westra,
Wyatt Cook and Hannah gave UWL a 56-48 lead. Dylan Parker's three-pointer cut it to 56-51, but Cook and Hannah gave UWL a 60-51 advantage with 10:39 left.
The Eagles took a 68-58 lead with 3:57 remaining on Suchomel's layup when the Falcons' Hanson and Jake Reeck hit back-to-back three-pointers to cut the margin to 68-64 with 3:09 left. UW-River Falls trailed, 70-66 with 2:09 remaining, but UWL scored the final seven points of the game.
Ethan Anderson hit a jumper with 1:41 left to make it a six-point game while Cook's three-pointer (:58 remaining) and two free throws (:34) finished the scoring.
UWL shot 51.8% from the field Wednesday, including 25.0% (two-of-eight) from three-point range, and 77.3% (17-of-22) at the free throw line. Five Eagles scored in double figures with
Seth Anderson,
Ethan Anderson and Westra each finishing with 15 points. Cook totaled 14 points and Hannah 10. Westra had a team-leading eight rebounds while
Seth Anderson and Suchomel each had six rebounds.
Ethan Anderson became the 17th player in school history to score 1,000 career points on Wednesday. He ranks 16th overall with 1,014 points.
Seth Anderson totaled 15 points and six rebounds.
UW-River Falls shot 43.9% from the field, including 45.8% (11-of-24) from three-point range, and 71.4% (five-of-seven) at the line. Hanson led the Falcons with 23 points. Payne finished with nine points and six rebounds while Holland totaled eight points.
UWL returns to action Saturday, January 15 at UW-Eau Claire at 5 p.m.
