Wisconsin Dells, Wis. - The University of Wisconsin-La Crosse men's basketball team extended its season-opening win streak to eight with a 82-73 victory over Concordia University Wisconsin Friday in the Justagame Fieldhouse in the Justagame DIII Invitational.

The Eagles, ranked third on the  D3hoops.com Top 25 Poll, improve to 8-0 on the season while the Falcons drop to 5-6. 

UWL's 8-0 start is its best since winning its first nine games in 2022-23. The Eagles started 10-0 in 2019-20 and won their first 12 games to start the 1963-64 and 1964-65 seasons. 

The all-time series between UWL and Concordia Wisconsin is now tied, 3-3. The teams were meeting for the first time since the 2019-20 season.

The game was tied, 6-6, when Dustin Derousseau's three-pointer and Sam Grieger's free throw gave UWL a 10-6 lead. Derousseau's layup with 16:18 remaining in the first half gave the Eagles a 12-8 lead, but the Falcons went on an 8-0 run to take a 16-12 advantage with 13:00 left. Logan Landers and Casey Verhagen each scored four points for Concordia Wisconsin in the run.

UWL went on a 9-2 run to take a 21-18 lead with 8:46 remaining on a Derousseau three-pointer. After the Falcons tied the contest at 23-23, Eli Schroeder's three-point field goal gave the Eagles a 26-23 advantage with 7:34 left. 

Concordia Wisconsin cut the lead to 33-32 with 2:40 remaining on a Verhagen layup, but UWL used a 7-0 run to end the half to take a 40-32 lead. JJ Paider had a pair of layups in the run while Derousseau made a free throw and Devon Fielding a layup.

The Eagles opened the second half with an 11-2 run to extend their lead to 51-34. After Concordia Wisconsin cut the deficit to 53-40, Sam Grieger had a pair of layups to give UWL a 57-40 advantage.
UWL took its largest lead of the game at 67-48 with 10:25 remaining on a Paider jumper. Concordia Wisconsin followed with a 14-1 run to cut the lead to 68-62 with 6:08 left after a Javanni Blackman layup. Five straight points from Derousseau provided a 73-62 lead for UWL with 4:12 remaining.

The Falcons could get no closer than six points the rest of the game.  

UWL shot 46.7% from the field, including 32.1% (nine-of-28) from three-point range, and 65.4% (17-of-26) at the free throw line.

Derousseau led the Eagles with 20 points, 11 rebounds, eight blocks and six assists. His eight blocks are a single-game school record, breaking the mark of seven blocks by Ed Uhlenhake (February 17, 1978), Brian Splinter (November 27, 1987) and Kyle Boland (February 12, 2003).

Paider finished with 17 points and eight rebounds Friday while Sam Grieger had 15 points, six rebounds and five assists. Fielding totaled 13 points, three rebounds and three assists.

Concordia Wisconsin shot 40.3% from the field, including 7.7% (one-of-13) from three-point range, and 93.3% (14-of-15) at the line.

Verhagen led the Falcons with 24 points while Landers totaled 22 points and 12 rebounds. Blackman finished with 13 points.

UWL returns to action Saturday, December 20 in the Justagame DIII Invitational versus Augustana College (Ill.) in the championship game at 7 p.m. The Vikings earned a 64-60 win over eighth-ranked Calvin College (Mich.) Friday.