La Crosse, Wis. - The University of Wisconsin-La Crosse men's basketball team extended its winning streak to three with a 75-62 victory over UW-Oshkosh Saturday night in Mitchell Hall. The Eagles, ranked 13th on this week's D3hoops.com Top-25 Poll, improve to 13-3 overall and 4-1 in the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (WIAC). The Titans, receiving votes on D3hoops.com, drop to 9-7 overall and 0-5 in the conference.
Khris Green had seven points off the bench.
It is the Eagles' third straight win over the Titans after sweeping last year's two meetings. UWL earned an 85-75 victory in Oshkosh and 78-67 in La Crosse last season.
UW-Oshkosh scored the game's first points Saturday on a Carter Thomas three-pointer.
Will Fuhrmann responded with a three-pointer of is own to tie the game for UWL and
Dustin Derousseau's three-point field goal gave the Eagles a 6-3 advantage. UWL would not trail the rest of the contest.
The Titans cut the lead to 11-9 on a Reed Seckar three-pointer with 14:50 remaining in the first half but the Eagles went on an 8-0 run to extend their lead to 19-9 with 12:31 left on a
Karter Thomas layup.
Khris Green had four points in the run. UW-Oshkosh's Max Tutas' layup with 12:03 remaining cut it to 19-12 when Green made a free throw,
Sam Grieger a layup and
Julian Hodges a three-point field goal to give UWL a 25-12 lead.
UWL took its largest lead of the first half on Grieger's three-pointer with :41 remaining to make it 53-30 at halftime.
JJ Paider finished with 15 points, five rebounds, three steals
and two assists.
Fuhrmann's three-pointer with 15:48 left gave UWL its largest lead of the game at 62-37. UW-Oshkosh could get no closer than the final margin of 13.
UWL shot 57.4% from the field, including 75.9% (22-of-29) in the first half. The Eagles shot 30.0% (six-of-20) from three-point range in the game and 70.0% (seven-of-10) at the free throw line.
The 57.4% shooting from the field is a season-high. It's the team's highest shooting percentage in 78 games since going 36-of-62 (58.1%) in a 95-60 victory over Bethel University (Minn.) on January 29, 2022.
Nine different players scored for UWL.
Derousseau led UWL with 16 points while Paider finished with 15 and Fuhrmann 10.
JJ Paider and Fuhrmann tied for the lead with five rebounds. Paider and
Torin Hannah each finished with three steals while Grieger had a team-high four assists.
UW-Oshkosh shot 40.7% from the field, including 40.0% (eight-of-20) from three-point range, and 62.5% (10-of-16) at the line.
Will Fuhrmann totaled 10 points and five rebounds.
Jonah Rindfleisch and Joey LaChappell each had 12 points while Seckar finished with 10. Rindfleisch and Tutas had a team-high six rebounds.
UWL returns to action Wednesday, January 22 hosting UW-River Falls at 7 p.m.
