La Crosse, Wis. - The University of Wisconsin-La Crosse men's basketball team had its four-game winning streak snapped with a 83-75 loss to top-ranked UW-Platteville Wednesday night in Mitchell Hall. The Eagles, ranked 14th on D3hoops.com, drop to 10-3 overall and 1-1 in the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (WIAC) while the Pioneers improve to 12-1 overall and 2-0 in the WIAC.

UWL is now 0-8 all-time versus the top-ranked team on the D3hoops.com Top-25 Poll. It was UWL's first contest versus the number one team since an 88-60 loss at Augustana College (Ill.) on November 13, 2015. 
 

JJ Paider scored the first six points of the game for UWL. The Eagles later led 13-7 with 14:35 left in the first half on Khris Green's three-point play. The Pioneers went on an 8-0 run to take their first lead of the game on Miles Hettinger's layup with 12:36 remaining.
 
The game was tied seven times in the first half, including 30-30 after a pair of Paider free throws with 1:57 left. Sam Grieger's three-pointer gave UWL a 33-32 lead on he added a jumper with :48 remaining to make it 35-32. Logan Pearson's jumper cut it to 35-34 and Max Love hit a three-pointer at the first half buzzer to give UW-Platteville a 37-35 lead.
 
Grieger's three-point field goal with 15:45 left cut the lead to 45-44, but an 11-4 run gave UW-Platteville a 56-48 advantage with 13:06 remaining after a Hettinger layup. The Pioneers led, 58-50, when the Eagles used an 8-0 run to tie the contest with 11:00 left. Dustin Derousseau had five points in the run.
 
Love made a pair of free throws to give UW-Platteville a 60-58 lead with 10:27 remaining and the Pioneers would never trail the rest of the game. UWL cut the deficit to 64-62 on Green's free throw, but six straight points from UW-Platteville extended the lead to 70-62. The Pioneers led by as many as nine at 74-65 with 5:03 left and the Eagles could get no closer than 79-75 with :57 remaining.
 

UWL shot 46.6% from the field on Wednesday, including 26.7% (four-of-15) from three-point range, and 68.0% (17-of-25) at the free throw line. The Eagles made all seven of their first half free throws, but went 10-of-18 (55.6%) in the second half.
 
Paider led UWL with 22 points, going eight-of-12 from the field and six-of-eight at the line. He added four rebounds, two assists, one block and one steal. Derousseau finished with 17 points and team-high six rebounds and two steals while Grieger totaled 13 points, three rebounds, two assists, one steal and team-high two blocks.
 
UW-Platteville shot 51.7% from the field, including 41.2% (seven-of-17) from three-point range, and 100.0% (14-of-14) at the line. The Pioneers shot 62.5% (15-of-24) from the field in the second half, including 66.7% (four-of-six) from three-point range. UW-Platteville made all 12 of its free throw attempts in the second half.
 
Pearson led the Pioneers with 25 points while Hettinger finished with 18 points, six rebounds, four blocks and two steals. Love scored 14 points while Ben Probst and Bristol Lewis each scored 10. Brady Olson had seven assists.
 
 UWL returns to action Saturday, January 11 at 16th-ranked UW-Stevens Point at 5 p.m.