La Crosse, Wis. - The University of Wisconsin-La Crosse men's basketball team improved to 8-6 overall and 2-1 in the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (WIAC) with a 77-69 victory over UW-Stout Wednesday night in Mitchell Hall. The Blue Devils drop to 6-8 overall and 1-2 in the league. 

With the win, UWL improves to 5-1 in Mitchell Hall.   

The Eagles never trailed Wednesday. Both teams struggled from the field to start the game as they went a combined one-for-18. UW-Stout missed its first eight shots from the field while UWL went one-for-10 and scored the game's first points on a JJ Paider jumper with 17:50 left in the first half. The Eagles took a 8-2 lead on a Austin Westra jumper. A pair of Jacob Walczak free throws for UW-Stout cut the lead to 10-7, but UWL went on a 12-0 run to take a 22-7 lead with 7:49 remaining on a Torin Hannah jumper. 

UWL took its largest lead of the game at 31-15 with 4:29 left in the first half on a Dustin Derousseau three-pointer. The Blue Devils cut the lead to 40-30 at halftime on a a Brody Fox jumper with :25 remaining. 

Fox hit a jumper to start the second half to make it 40-32, but UWL responded with seven straight points to take a 47-32 advantage. Hannah hit a three-pointer, Paider a layup and Derousseau a jumper in the run. Will Fuhrmann's jumper gave the Eagles a 59-49 lead with 10:32 left when the Blue Devils' Aidan Shore scored four straight points to cut it to 59-53 with 9:19 remaining.

Jake Gross later connected on a jumper for UWL to give the Eagles a 70-59 lead, but Caden Hoffman's three-pointer and Shore's jumper cut the deficit to 70-64 with 2:48 remaining. The Blue Devils would get no closer the rest of the game. The Eagles went seven-of-10 at the free throw line in the final 1:16 to secure the victory. 

UWL shot 39.4% from the field, including 40.0% (eight-of-20) from three-point range, and 72.2% (13-of-18) at the free throw line. Paider led four players in double figures, recording a double-double with 14 points and game-high 12 rebounds. Derousseau and Hannah each finished with 12 points while Sam Grieger had 10. Derousseau also grabbed seven rebounds. 
 

Fuhrmann finished with eight points and six rebounds while Gross totaled seven points and seven rebounds. 

UW-Stout shot 42.2% from the field Wednesday, including 35.3% (six-of-17) from three-point range, and 90.0% (nine-of-10) at the line. Fox led the Blue Devils with 26 points and nine rebounds. Hoffman finished with 15 points off the bench while Shore totaled 14 points, seven rebounds, four blocks and two assists off the bench.

UWL returns to action Saturday, January 13 at 16th-ranked UW-Platteville at 7 p.m.