Box Score Platteville, Wis. - The University of Wisconsin-La Crosse men's basketball team, ranked ninth on D3hoops.com, fell 74-51 at sixth-ranked UW-Platteville Thursday night in the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (WIAC) Semifinals (presented by Culver's) in Williams Fieldhouse. The Eagles drop to 20-6 on the season while the Pioneers improve to 21-4.
With the win, UW-Platteville advances to the WIAC Championship game at UW-Oshkosh Saturday, February 26.
UWL will await word on receiving an at-large bid to the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division III Championships. The selection show is set for Monday, February 28 at 11:30 a.m. on ncaa.com.
The Eagles were making their 10th (2006-07, 2012, 2014, 2016-17, 2019-22) appearance in the WIAC Semifinals, including fourth straight under head coach
Kent Dernbach.
UW-Platteville, the tournament's second-seed, never trailed Thursday night, racing out to a 7-0 lead. A pair of free throws from
Wyatt Cook for UWL cut the lead to 7-4 with 15:49 remaining, but the Eagles could get no closer the rest of the game. The Pioneers took a 12-4 lead on two free throws from Kyle Tuma with 13:32 left. The Eagles later cut it to 12-8 on
Sean Suchomel's three-point play, but a 8-1 run gave the Pioneers a 20-9 advantage. UWL cut the deficit to 30-23 at halftime.
UWL, seeded third, could get no closer than eight points in the second half, including 35-27 with 16:42 left on
Ethan Anderson's jumper. The Eagles trailed, 42-31, with 13:14 remaining when the Pioneers used an 8-0 run to lead 50-31 on Justin Stovall's layup with 11:34 left.
UWL shot 35.3% from the field Thursday, including 23.1% (three-of-13) from three-point range, and 70.6% (12-of-17) at the free throw line. Cook led the Eagles with 15 points and seven rebounds while Anderson finished with 13 points.
Sean Suchomel totaled seven points and five rebounds.
UW-Platteville shot 41.4% from the field, including 46.2% (12-of-26) from three-point range, and 77.8% (14-of-18) at the line. Tuma led the Pioneers with 18 points, going 10-of-10 at the line. Stovall and Logan Pearson each finished with 14 points while Ben Probst totaled 12. Tuma had a game-high nine rebounds with Pearson finishing with seven.
