Box Score La Crosse, Wis. - The University of Wisconsin-La Crosse men's basketball team fell, 93-91 in overtime, to UW-Stout Tuesday night in the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (WIAC) Tournament First Round (presented by Culver's). The Eagles finish the season at 14-12 while the Blue Devils improve to 12-14 and will play at UW-Platteville in the tournament semifinals on Thursday, February 22. 

In the second-ever meeting between the teams in the WIAC Tournament, the game featured 16 lead changes. UW-Stout, the tournament's sixth-seed, took a 10-6 lead on a George Scharlau three-point field goal, but third-seeded UWL went on a 11-2 run to take a 17-12 advantage with 15:38 remaining in the first half after a pair of JJ Paider free throws. The Eagles maintained the lead until the Blue Devils used a 6-0 run to take a 33-31 lead with 7:14 left on Aidan Shore's layup. 

Jake Gross' layup for UWL tied the game at 33-33, but UW-Stout scored the next eight points for a 41-33 lead with 4:48 remaining on a Brady Fox jumper. The Blue Devils took their largest lead at 48-39 with 2:17 left on Shore's layup. UW-Stout led, 52-45, at halftime.  

After Fox opened the second half with a jumper for a 54-45 lead, UWL went on a 7-0 run to cut the lead to 54-52 on Austin Westra's two free throws with 15:11 left. Westra later tied the game at 57-57 on a three-point play and gave UWL a one-point lead on a free throw at 58-57 with 12:19 remaining. UW-Stout used a 15-2 run to take a 72-60 lead with 6:49 left on a Fox jumper. 

UWL quickly responded scoring the next nine points to cut the lead to 72-69 on Dustin Derousseau's three-pointer. Shore's jumper extended the Blue Devils lead to 74-69 on a jumper, but Will Fuhrmann's three-pointer, two free throws from Westra and one free throw by Derousseau gave the Eagles a 75-74 lead with 3:16 left. Shore gave UW-Stout a 76-75 lead and Jacob Walczak connected on a three-pointer to make it 79-75 with 2:18 left. Torin Hannah made a three-pointer to cut it to 79-78 and Westra made one-of-two at the line to tie the game with 1:15 remaining. Shore's two free throws with :17 left gave UW-Stout a 81-79 lead, but Fuhrmann hit a jumper with :10 remaining to tie the game. Fox' jumper at the buzzer was blocked by Gross to force overtime. 
 

Westra made two free throws to start overtime, but Shore's jumper tied the game at 83-83. Westra made one-of-two at the line with 3:22 remaining to make it 84-83 when Walczak's three-point field goal gave UW-Stout a 86-84 lead with 2:55 left. Derousseau's three-point play gave UWL the lead back at 87-86 with 2:44 remaining. Fox made a jumper with 2:27 left to give the Blue Devils a 88-87 lead. Derousseau's two free throws with 2:14 gave the lead back to UWL, but a Scharlau jumper for UW-Stout changed the lead back at 90-89 with 1:47 left. Westra's two free throws with 1:22 remaining gave UWL a 91-90 advantage. Both teams missed jumpers before Walczak hit a three-pointer with :05 left to give the Blue Devils a 93-91 lead. Fuhrmann's three-point shot at the buzzer was blocked by Walczak. 

UWL shot 43.2% from the field Wednesday, including 27.8% (five-of-18) from three-point range, and 75.9% (22-of-29) at the free throw line. Westra led the Eagles with 23 points, going 13-of-17 at the line while adding six rebounds. Derousseau finished with 18 points while Paider had 16. Fuhrmann finished with 12 points and Khris Green 10. Gross had nine points and team-high 11 rebounds.

The Eagles drop to 1-3 overtime in the WIAC Tournament with their last game falling (76-68) at UW-Oshkosh in the 2020 semifinals.

UW-Stout 46.3% from the field, including 33.3% (10-of-30) from three-point range, and 81.8% (nine-of-11) at the line. Fox led the Blue Devils with 29 points while adding nine assists. Jacob Walczak finished with 20 points while Shore had 18 and Scharlau 15. Collin Vick finished with a team-high 12 rebounds and 10 assists. 

UWL earned a 63-58 victory over UW-Stout in the 2007 tournament quarterfinals.