La Crosse, Wis. - The University of Wisconsin-La Crosse men's basketball team, ranked 15th on D3hoops.com, improved to 6-0 on the season with a 86-57 win over Ripon College (Wis.) Tuesday night in Mitchell Hall. The Red Hawks drop to 3-1 on the season.
It marks the second straight year the Eagles have won their first six games of the season. UWL now leads the all-time series, 13-3, with Ripon (Wis.).
Ethan Anderson had a game-high 19 points Tuesday night.
UWL never trailed in Tuesday's win, scoring the first seven points of the game.
Austin Westra's layup gave the Eagles an 11-2 lead with 16:10 remaining in the first half. After Ripon (Wis.) cut it to 11-4 on a pair of Jaylen Mahone free throws, UWL's
Tanner Resch scored four straight points for a 15-4 advantage. The Eagles took a 22-10 lead on
Mack Sebert's jumper with 9:29 left, but the Red Hawks scored the next seven points to cut it to 22-17 with 6:59 remaining.
Luke Meinholz' layup with 5:36 left cut the deficit to 23-19, but UWL finished the half with a 16-0 run to take a 39-19 halftime advantage.
Ethan Anderson hit a pair of three-pointers in the run while
Craig Steele finished the half with a pair of layups. UWL shot 48.5% (16-of-33) from the field in the first 20 minutes while Ripon (Wis.) shot 18.2% (six-of-33), including 10.0% (one-of-10) from three-point range.
Mahone's two free throws with 18:34 left cut the lead to 41-24, but the Red Hawks could get no closer the rest of the game. Sebert's three-point field goal gave the Eagles a 44-24 advantage. UWL led by as many as 33 points in the second half.
UWL shot 54.8% from the field Tuesday, including 47.6% (10-of-21) from three-point range, and 66.7% (eight-of-12) at the free throw line. UWL shot 62.1% (18-of-29) from the field in the second half, including 58.3% (seven-of-12) from three-point range.
Craig Steele finished with 18 points, five rebounds, three assists and two steals.
Anderson led the Eagles with 19 points, finishing seven-of-13 from the field, including three-of-three from three-point range, and two-of-four at the line. He also totaled six rebounds, three assists and one block. Steele added 18 points, going seven-of-12 from the field, including two-of-three from three-point range, and two-of-two at the line. He finished with five rebounds, three assists, two steals and one block. Westra and Will Fuhrman each scored 10 points. Sebert had a game-high nine rebounds while finishing with seven points. Westra had eight rebounds. Resch finished with eight points and five rebounds Tuesday while Sebert and
Jake Gross each had seven points.
Ripon (Wis.) shot 31.3% from the field, including 15.0% (three-of-20) from three-point range, and 70.0% (14-of-20) at the line. Mahone led the Red Hawks with 11 points and five rebounds while Meinholz totaled 10 points.
UWL returns to action Wednesday, November 30 at UW-Whitewater in the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (WIAC) opener for both teams. Tip-off is set for 7 p.m.
