La Crosse, Wis. - The University of Wisconsin-La Crosse men's basketball team earned a 73-64 win over UW-Eau Claire Saturday night in Mitchell Hall. The Eagles, ranked eighth on this week's D3hoops.com Top-25 Poll, improve to 18-3 overall and 8-3 in Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (WIAC) while the Blugolds fall to 10-12 overall and 3-8 in the WIAC.
Ethan Anderson had 18 points and nine rebounds.
UWL earned the regular-season sweep of UW-Eau Claire with Saturday's win. The Eagles won, 67-60, at UW-Eau Claire January 15.
UW-Eau Claire opened the game on a 14-6 run over the first 8:12 as Carter Brooks scored the first six points. After trailing 18-9 with 10:15 remaining in the first half, the Eagles went on an 13-2 run to take their first lead at 22-20 with 3:19 left on
Craig Steele's jumper.
Henry Noone and
Wyatt Cook each hit a three-pointer to spark the Eagles' run. UW-Eau Claire tied the game at 22-22, but UWL ended the half on a 9-0 run to take a 31-22 advantage.
Trailing 33-26, UW-Eau Claire went on a 8-0 run to take a 34-33 lead on a Brooks' three-point basket. UWL led 40-38 with 13:59 remaining when it used a 8-0 run to make it 48-38 on a Noone three-point basket. The Eagles later led, 53-42, with 7:32 left, but the Blugolds went on a 9-2 run to cut the deficit to 55-51 with 5:15 remaining on Gunnar Tebon's three-pointer.
Sean Suchomel's three-point play gave UWL a 58-51 lead with 4:58 left and UW-Eau Claire could get no closer than six points the rest of the game. The Eagles led by as many as 12, including 69-57 wiht 1:18 remaining on a Steele layup.
UWL shot 45.6% (26-of-57) from the floor, including 31.6% (six-of-19) from the three-point line, and 65.2% (15-of-23) at the free-throw line. The Eagles had three players in double figures led by
Ethan Anderson with 18 points. Cook finished with 15 points and Steele 10.
Seth Anderson had nine points.
Sean Suchomel had seven points and four reobunds.
Anderson also had a game-high nine rebounds as the Eagles held a 38-28 advantage. He had a team-high three assists and tied for the team lead with Torin Hannan with three steals. Cook totaled six rebounds.
UW-Eau Claire finished 21-of-51 (41.2%) from the floor, including six-of-19 (31.6%) from behind the three-point line. The Blugolds went 16-of-22 (72.7%) at the free throw line. Carter Hanke led UW-Eau Claire with 19 points while Brooks had 15 points and five rebounds. Tebon finished with 13 points. Nolan Blair led the Blugolds with six rebounds.
UWL, winners of 11 of its last 12 games, returns to action Wednesday, February 9 at UW-River Falls at 7 p.m.
