Eau Claire, Wis. - The University of Wisconsin-La Crosse men's basketball team wrapped its regular season with a 83-70 loss at UW-Eau Claire Saturday night in Zorn Arena. The Eagles drop to 14-11 overall and 8-6 in the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (WIAC) while the Blugolds improve to 12-13 overall and 5-9 in the conference.

UWL is the third-seed for the WIAC Tournament (presented by Culver's) and will host a first round game on Tuesday, February 20 at 7 p.m. versus an opponent to be determined. 

The Eagles took a 19-13 lead with 11:06 remaining in the first half on a Jake Grosse jumper. Will Fuhrmann's three-pointer gave UWL a 24-16 lead, but UW-Eau Claire later cut the lead to 26-21 with 6:56 left on a Nolan Blair jumper, but UWL scored the next five points on a Dustin Derousseau layup and three-point play from JJ Paider to make it 31-21 with 5:52 remaining.   

UW-Eau Claire cut it to 31-26 on a Carter Lichtsinn three-pointer, but Gross extended UWL's lead back to 33-26 on a jumper. The Blugolds then went on a 9-0 run to take a 35-33 advantage on a Caiden Lecce layup with :38 left. Torin Hannah's layup with :04 remaining for UWL tied the game at halftime, 35-35.
 
Lichtsinn's three-pointer with 15:50 left gave the Blugolds a 50-45 lead, but the Eagles used a 6-0 run to take a 51-50 lead on four points from Gross and two from Khris Green. UWL later tied the game on Griffin Ginder three-pointer with 10:30 left at 59-59. Drew Maloney's layup with 9:12 remaining gave UW-Eau Claire a 61-59 lead and the Blugolds would never trail the rest of the game. 

A pair of Paider free throws cut the lead to 66-63 with 7:22 left, but UW-Eau Claire scored the game's next six points for a 72-63 lead with 4:21 remaining on Carter Huschka's layup. UWL cut it 74-68 with 2:39 left, but a 7-0 run by UW-Eau Claire extended its lead to 81-68. 

UWL shot 45.8% from the field, including 18.8% (three-of-16) from three-point range, and 81.3% (13-of-16) at the free throw line. Fuhrmann led the Eagles with 18 points while Paider finished with 17 points and seven rebounds. Gross finished with 11 points off the bench. 

UW-Eau Claire shot 49.2% from the field, including 39.4% (13-of-33) from three-point range, and 62.5% (10-of-16) at the line. Lichtsinn led the Blugolds with 24 points while Huschka finished with 21 points and 17 rebounds. Maloney scored 18 points.