La Crosse, Wis. - The University of Wisconsin-La Crosse men's basketball team fell, 72-68, to UW-Whitewater Friday night in the semifinals of the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (WIAC) Tournament (presented by Culvers). The Eagles, receiving votes on this week's D3hoops.com Top-25 Poll, drop to 19-7 on the season while the Warhawks improve to 20-7. UW-Whitewater advances to the WIAC Championship on Sunday at top-seeded UW-Oshkosh. 

UW-Whitewater took an early 8-4 lead (17:17) on a three-pointer by Delvin Barnstable. After a Craig Steele jumper pulled the Eagles to within 10-8, the Warharks went on a 11-0 run to lead 21-8 with 11:28 left in the first half. The Warhawks took their largest lead (24-10) of the first half on a three-pointer by Jameer Barker. The Eagles responded with a 11-3 run to cut their deficit to 27-21 with 6:59 left. 

UW-Whitewater pushed its lead back to double digits at 32-22 before UWL scored 10 of the next 12 points to trail 34-32 with 1:23 left in the first half. A Miles Barnstable three-pointer with 1:10 left gave the Warhawks a 37-32 halftime lead. 

The Eagles shot 12-30 (40.0%) from the floor, including one-of-two from the three-point line. Austin Westra led the Eagles with seven points in the first half while JJ Paider had six points and five rebounds. 

The Warhawks shot 13-of-25 (52.0%) from the floor in the first half, including seven-of-15 (46.7%) from the three-point line. Miles Barnstable led the Warhawks with 12 points, going four-of-five from the three-point line. 

UW-Whitewater scored the first four points of the second half to take a 41-32 lead. UWL went on a 11-2 run to tie the game at 43-43 with 13:51 left on a Dustin Derousseau jumper. Paider scored five points to spark the run for the Eagles. The Warhawks quickly responded with a 7-0 run to lead 50-43 with 11:59 remaining on a pair of Trevon Chislom free throws. Trailing 55-48, UWL scored 10 of the next 13 points to tie the game at 58 with 4:06 left on a Paider layup.

Leading 61-60, UW-Whitewater got a lay up from Elijah Lambert and three free throws from Miles Barnstable to extend its lead to 66-60. UWL cut the deficit to 68-66 on two free throws by Ethan Anderson with :08 remaining. Delvin Barnstable hit two free throws for the Warhawks before Anderson's dunk with :05 left to make it 70-68 with :05 left. Miles Barnstable connected on a pair of free throws with less than a second remaining.
 

UWL finished the contest shooting 25-of-60 (41.7%) from the floor, including two-of-eight (25.0%) from the three-point line. The Eagles were 16-of-20 (80.0%) at the free throw line. Paider led the Eagles with with 15 points and seven rebounds. Joining Paider in double figures was Westra with 14, Anderson 12 and Steele 11. 

The Warhawks finished the game 22-of-50 (44.0%) from the floor, including seven-of-22 (31.8%) from the three-point line. UW-Whitewater was 21-of-27 (77.8%) at the line. Miles Barnstable led the Warhawks with 22 points while Chislom finished 15, Barker 11 and Delvin Barnstable 10. Delvin Barnstable finished with a team-high eight rebounds. 

UWL will await word if its earned one of 20 at-large bids to the NCAA Division III Championships. The 64-team field will be announced Monday, February 27 at noon.