La Crosse, Wis. - The University of Wisconsin-La Crosse men's basketball team dropped its first game of the season with a 67-64 loss to Trine University (Ind.) Saturday afternoon in Mitchell Hall. The Eagles, ranked third on D3hoops.com, fall to 9-1 on the season while the Thunder, receiving votes on D3hoops.com, improves to 7-1.
Austin Westra had 16 points and four rebounds.
UWL scored the first seven points of the game Saturday and took a 9-3 advantage on a
Jake Gross jumper with 15:25 remaining in the first half. Trine (Ind.) then went on a 9-1 run of its own to take a 12-10 lead on Emmanuel Megnanglo's three-point play with 12:09 left. The Thunder tied the game, 20-20, on a Brent Cox jumper and starting a 13-2 run to give Trine (Ind.) a 31-22 lead with 5:08 left. Trine (Ind.) took its largest lead of the first half on Connor Jones' three-point field goal with 3:17 remaining to make it 38-26.
Craig Steele's three-point field goal with 1:06 left cut the halftime deficit to 38-29.
Cox connected on a three-pointer with 17:21 remaining to give Trine (Ind.) its largest lead of the game at 47-34. The Thunder led, 49-37, when the Eagles used an 11-0 run to cut the lead to 49-48 with 9:23 left on
Luke Schwartzhoff's layup. Trine's (Ind.) Jones (5:04 remaining) and UWL's
Austin Westra (4:03) traded three-point field goals to tie the game, 58-58. Cox gave the Thunder a 61-58 lead on a three-pointer with 3:42 left, but the Eagles' Torrin Hannah cut it to 61-60 with 2:42 left on a layup.
Torin Hannah had six points, five rebounds and four assists.
Jones connected on a pair of free throws for Trine (Ind.) to make it 63-60 with 2:17 left, but
Ethan Anderson made two free throws with 1:57 remaining to make it a one-point game with 1:57 remaining. Both teams missed a shot from the field and each had a turnover before Jones made two free throws with :20 left to give Trine (Ind.) a 65-62 lead. Steele made two free throws with :05 remaining to cut it to 65-64, but Jones connected on another pair of free throws with :04 left and
Henry Noone missed a potential game-tying three-pointer as the buzzer.
UWL shot 35.7% from the field, including 16.7% (four-of-24) from three-point range, and 87.0% (20-of-23) at the line. Westra and Steele each scored 16 points for the Eagles. Anderson and Hannah each had five rebounds. Hannah tied for the team lead with four assists to go along six points.
Will Fuhrmann also had four assists for the Eagles.
Trine (Ind.) shot 52.2% from the field, including 42.9% (six-of-14) from three-point range, and 81.3% (13-of-16) at the free throw line. Cox led the Thunder with 23 points while Jones finished with 22 points and seven rebounds. Aidan Smylie totaled a game-high eight rebounds.
UWL returns to action Wednesday, December 14 hosting Saint Mary's University (Minn.) at 7 p.m.
