La Crosse, Wis. - The University of Wisconsin-La Crosse men's basketball team had its three-game winning streak snapped with a 68-67 loss to Bethany Lutheran College (Minn.) Wednesday night in Mitchell Hall. The Eagles drop to 3-3 on the season while the Vikings improve to 4-2.
Will Fuhrmann had 13 points on Wednesday night.
UWL led, 65-59 with 1:43 left after a
Will Fuhrmann jumper. Xavier Patterson's three-point play for Bethany Lutheran (Minn.) cut the lead to 65-62 with 1:31 remaining. After an Eagles' turnover, Patterson made it a one-point game with a jumper with 1:07 left.
Dustin Derousseau hit a pair of free throws with :56 remaining to give UWL a 67-64 advantage. Patterson made two free throws to cut the deficit to 67-66 with :46 left.
Austin Westra missed a pair of free throws for UWL with :22 remaining. Bethany Lutheran (Minn.) called a timeout with :05 left. Mason Ackley drove to the right and missed a running jumper, but Hunter Nielsen add the put-back layup at the buzzer to give the Vikings the one-point victory.
Dustin Derousseau finished with a team-high 16 points.
Neither team led by more than four points in the first half until Bethany Lutheran (Minn.) took a 27-22 lead with 5:41 left on Patterson's jumper. Fuhrmann cut the lead to 27-24, but the Vikings used a 6-0 run to end the half to take a 33-24 lead.
Kegan Heiderscheidt's three-pointer to start the second half gave Bethany Lutheran (Minn.) a 36-24 advantage. The Vikings took their largest lead at 40-26 with 17:50 left on an Ackley jumper. UWL went on a 9-0 run to cut it to 40-35 on a
Julian Hodges' three-point field goal. Hodges had five of the Eagles' nine points in their run.
Bethany Lutheran (Minn.) regained a 49-42 lead with 12:51 left when UWL used a 13-2 run to take a 55-51 lead with 9:40 left.
Khris Green hit back-to-back jumpers to give the Eagles their four-point lead. UWL later took a 59-53 lead with 5:57 left on a Fuhrmann jumper, but Bethany Lutheran (Minn.) secured the win ending the game on a 9-2 run.
UWL shot 38.6% from the field, including 23.5% (four-of-17) from three-point range, and 64.3% (nine-of-14) at the free throw line. Derousseau led four players in double figures for the Eagles with 16 points while also finishing with seven rebounds. Fuhrmann had 13 points while
Jake Gross finished with 11 and Westra 10. Gross added four rebounds, four assists and three steals.
JJ Paider led UWL with nine rebounds. Green totaled eight points and seven rebounds off the bench.
Khris Green had eight points and seven rebounds.
Bethany Lutheran (Minn.) shot 45.9% from the field, including 30.4% (seven-of-23) from three-point range, and 50.0% (five-of-10) at the line. Nielsen led the Vikings with 19 points, 15 rebounds and three blocks. Patterson finished with 13 points, four assists and two blocks while Ackley had 11 points, four assists and three steals. Dominik Bangu and Heiderscheidt each had 10 points with Heiderscheidt adding eight rebounds.
UWL returns to action Saturday, December 2 at fifth-ranked Calvin University (Mich.) at 12 p.m.
