Wisconsin Dells, Wis. - The University of Wisconsin-La Crosse men's basketball team suffered its first defeat of the season with a 82-75 loss to Augustana College (Ill.) Saturday night in the Justagame DIII Invitational Championship game in the Justagame Fieldhouse. The Eagles, ranked third on the D3hoops.com Top 25 Poll, drop to 8-1 on the season while the Vikings improve to 6-4.

UWL cut the lead to 10-9 on JJ Paider's layup when Augustana (Ill.) went on a 7-0 run to make it 17-9 with 12:35 left in the first half on a pair of Dani Romero free throws. Eli Schroeder's three-pointer for the Eagles later cut the deficit to 20-14 with 10:58 remaining, but a 6-0 run by the Vikings extended their lead to 26-14. 

Sam Grieger's layup and Carson Bauer's three-pointer cut the lead to 26-19. UWL later made it 28-25 with 2:49 remaining on a Paider layup. Augustana (Ill.) led, 32-27, at halftime. 

UWL's Devon Fielding converted a three-point field goal to start the second half to cut the lead to 32-30. After trailing, 42-36, UWL went on a 8-2 run to tie game at 44-44 with 13:44 remaining on a Grieger layup. Dustin Derousseau's layup with 12:33 left gave the Eagles a 48-47 lead.

Augustana (Ill.) took a 55-50 lead with 9:40 remaining on an Ethan Andre three-pointer. The Vikings would not trail the rest of the game. The Eagles tied the game at 61-61 with 6:32 left on a Derousseau layup, but back-to-back three-point field goals from Andre Klaver and Andre gave Augustana (Ill.) a 67-61 lead. Klaver added a jumper with 4:45 remaining to extend the lead to eight. UWL scored the next four points to cut the lead to 69-65, but could get no closer.

The Vikings went seven-of-eight at the free throw line in the final 3:03. 

UWL shot 45.9% from the field Saturday, including 23.8% (five-of-21) from three-point range, and 56.0% (14-of-25) at the free throw line. 

Grieger led the Eagles with 25 points while adding two assists, two blocks and two steals. Paider recorded a double-double with 12 points and 11 rebounds. 

Augustana (Ill.) shot 44.6% from the field, including 40.0% (eight-of-20) from three-point range, and 72.7% (16-of-22) at the line. 

Klaver led the Vikings with 18 points. Romero finished with 12 points and six rebounds while Marieon Anderson and Jake Willems each had 10 points. Anderson added nine rebounds and three steals.

UWL returns to action Monday, December 29 versus North Central University (Minn.) at 5 p.m. in the Nicolet National Bank Holiday Tournament at St. Norbert College (Wis.).