La Crosse, Wis. - The University of Wisconsin-La Crosse men's basketball team never trailed in earning a 82-51 victory over Luther College (Iowa) Wednesday night in Mitchell Hall. The Eagles, now 3-1 at home, improve to 5- 4 overall while the Norse drop to 3-5.
Austin Westra finished with 15 points and nine rebounds.
Jake Gross opened the scoring with a three-pointer with 19:16 left in the first half. Ben Gill's layup for Luther (Iowa) cut the lead to 3-2, but missed the potential game-tying free throw. UWL then used a 9-0 run to take a 12-2 advantage with 12:49 remaining on
Sam Grieger's jumper. Randall Days hit a jumper for the Norse to cut it to 12-4, but Luther (Iowa) would get no closer the rest of the game.
UWL went on a 16-4 run to make it 28-8 with 8:04 left after
Dustin Derousseau's three-pointer. Luther (Iowa) cut it to 30-18 with 5:48 remaining, but a Gross three-pointer and
Austin Westra jumper extended the lead to 35-18. The Eagles led, 39-27, at halftime after Grieger's jumper with :01 left.
Luther (Iowa) cut the lead to 10 points two different times in the second half, including 43-33 with 16:10 remaining on Andrew Lazinbat's jumper. Leading 49-36 with 12:48 left, UWL went on a 11-0 run to make it 60-36 with 10:05 remaining.
UWL shot 44.4% from the field Wednesday, including 40.0% (10-of-25) from three-point range, and 69.6% (16-of-23) at the free throw line. Grieger and Westra led four players in double figures with 15 points each. Grieger finished seven-of-11 from the field, including one-of-one from three-point range, while adding eight rebounds and team-high five assists and three blocks. Westra was six-of-nine from the field and three-of-four at the line while finishing with a team-high nine rebounds.
Derousseau totaled 11 points while Gross finished with 10 points and seven rebounds. Twelve different players scored for UWL as 16 saw action in the game.
Jake Grosse had 11 points and seven rebounds Wednesday night.
Luther (Iowa) shot 32.8% from the field, including 12.5% (three-of-24) from three-point range, and 50.0% (10-of-20) at the line. Lazinbat led the Norse with 17 points. Aidan Bailey added eight point while Days finished with a team-high seven rebounds.
UWL returns to action Saturday, December 9 at Wisconsin Lutheran College at 5 p.m.
