Grand Rapids, Mich. - The University of Wisconsin-La Crosse men's basketball team fell, 84-71, at fifth-ranked Calvin University (Mich.) Saturday afternoon at Van Noord Arena. The Eagles drop to 3-4 on the season while the Knights improve to 6-0.
Calvin (Mich.), ranked fifth on this week's D3hoops.com Top-25 Poll, took a 16-8 lead with 12:30 left in the first half on Uchenna Egekeze three-point field goal. UWL went on a 7-0 run to cut the lead to 16-15 with 11:44 remaining after a pair of
Austin Westra free throws.
Dustin Derousseau finished with 10 points, four rebounds,
four steals and two blocks.
Dustin Derousseau's layup for the Eagles cut the lead to 27-25 with 7:27 left, but the Knights used a 13-0 run to take a 40-25 lead with 4:14 remaining in the first half. Luke Ressler scored eight points in the run, including a pair of three-pointers. UWL cut it to 45-35 with 1:38 left on a
Will Fuhrmann jumper, but Marcus Bult's layup with 1:10 remaining gave Calvin (Mich.) a 47-35 halftime advantage.
The Knights took their largest lead of the game at 53-35 on Owen Varnado's three-point play with 16:39 left. Trailing 57-42, UWL went on a 7-0 run to cut it to 57-49 with 11:53 remaining on
Sam Grieger's free throw. Egekeze's jumper gave the Knights a 59-49 lead and the Eagles could get no closer than eight points the rest of the game.
UWL shot 32.9% from the field, including 27.8% (five-of-18) from three-point range, and 74.1% (20-of-27) at the free throw line. Grieger led the Eagles with 22 points and five assists.
Jake Gross finished with 12 points, five rebounds, three assists and two steals while Derousseau had 10 points, four rebounds, four steals and three blocks. Westra had a team-high 10 rebounds.
Calvin (Mich.) shot 41.3% from the field, including 36.7% (11-of-30) from three-point range, and 77.8% (21-of-27) at the line. Ressler led four players in double figures with 18 points while Egekeze finished with 15. Bult and Jalen Overway each had 14 points. Bult finished with a double-double, recording a game-high 12 rebounds.
UWL returns to action Sunday, December 3 at Aurora University (Ill.) at 1 p.m.
