La Crosse, Wis. - The University of Wisconsin-La Crosse men's basketball team opened its 2024-25 home schedule with a 91-62 victory over North Park University (Ill.) Saturday night in Mitchell Hall. The Eagles improve to 2-1 on the season while the Vikings drop to 0-2.
Dustin Derousseau finished with 21 points,
eight rebounds and five assists.
In the first meeting between the teams since the 2012-13 season, UWL never trailed in the game Saturday.
JJ Paider's layup opened the scoring. North Park (Ill.) cut the lead to 9-7 with 15:43 left in the first half on a Rico Powell three-pointers, but UWL used three layups to take a 15-7 advantage.
Khris Green had a pair of the layups and
Dustin Derousseau the other. Davante Robinson's three-point field goal for the Vikings cut the margin to 15-10, but North Park (Ill.) could get no closer the rest of the game.
UWL went on a 7-0 run to lead 22-10 after
Karter Thomas' layup,
Sam Grieger's three-point play and two Paider free throws. North Park's (Ill.) Kyren Gardner cut the margin to 28-20 with 6:51 left on a layup, but UWL used a 18-4 run to lead 46-24. The Eagles led, 46-26, at halftime.
North Park (Ill.) could get no closer than 20 points in the second half as UWL led by as many 33.
UWL shot 46.1% from the field, including 26.7% (eight-of-30) from three-point range, and 76.5% (13-of-17) at the line. The Eagles shot 57.1% (20-of-35) from the field in the first half. UWL recorded 18 assists.
Derousseau led four players in double figures, finishing with 21 points while going 10-of-13 from the field. He was one-of-three from three-point range while adding eight rebounds and five assists. Grieger finished with 17 points, eight rebounds and five blocks while Thomas scored 15 points with five rebounds off the bench. Paider recorded a double-double with 11 points and game-high 14 rebounds while also registering five assists.
Sam Grieger totaled 17 points, eight rebounds
and five blocks.
Green and
Mack Sebert each finished with eight points.
North Park (Ill.) shot 33.3% from the field Saturday, including 16.0% (four-of-25) from three-point range, and 71.4% (10-of-14) at the free throw line. Tristan Arneaud led the Vikings with 13 points while Gardner finished with 12 and Powell with 11.
UWL returns to action at the Great Lakes Invitational in Grand Rapids, Michigan on Friday, November 22, facing Marietta College (Ohio).
