River Falls, Wis. - The University of Wisconsin-La Crosse men's basketball team earned its 20th win of the season with an 86-79 victory at UW-River Falls Wednesday night in Page Arena.
The Eagles improve to 20-4 overall and 11-2 in the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (WIAC) while the Falcons drop to 9-15 overall and 3-10 in the WIAC. UWL has won 10 of the last 13 meetings with UW-River Falls.
It marks UWL's eighth 20-win season in school history and first since finishing 21-7 in 2021-22. The Eagles have now won at least 20 games in three of the last six seasons.
UWL's 11 league victories are the most since finishing 12-4 in 2006-07. It is the second time since 1982-83 the Eagles won at least 11 conference games in a season.
UWL took a 9-7 lead Wednesday on
Karter Thomas' layup with 16:14 remaining in the first half when Drew Adams scored five consecutive points to give UW-River Falls a 12-9 advantage.
Julian Hodges converted a three-pointer to tie the game at 12-12.
Dustin Derousseau finished with a game-high
22 points Wednesday night.
The Falcons led 15-14 when they used a 9-0 run to take a 24-14 lead with 10:00 left on a Gavin Ralph layup. The Eagles went on a 9-2 run of their own to cut the lead to 26-23 with 6:18 remaining after
JJ Paider's layup.
Jeremy Wanguhu's three-pointer field goal with 2:18 remaining extended UW-River Falls' lead to 39-32. Zac Johnson gave UW-River Falls a 42-34 lead with 1:05 left with a three-pointer.
Thomas made a pair of free throws with :05 remaining to cut the lead to 42-38, but Riley Ashburn's layup with :01 left gave UW-River Falls a 44-38 halftime lead.
Four straight points from Jack Leifker gave the Falcons a 53-47 lead, but the Eagles went on a 9-2 run to take a 56-55 lead on
Will Fuhrmann's three-pointer with 14:27 left. Regan Merritt's three-pointer with 11:54 remaining gave UW-River Falls a 63-58 lead.
Trailing 65-63, UWL went on a 6-0 run to take a 69-65 lead on three straight layups from Paider,
Dustin Derousseau and Fuhrmann. UW-River Falls scored the next five points to regain a 70-69 lead on a Wanguhu layup and Merritt three-pointer.
Thomas' layup with 4:15 left gave the Eagles a 76-74 lead and UWL would never trail the rest of the game. Layups from
Sam Grieger and Thomas extended the lead to 80-74.
Merritt cut it to 80-77 with 1:36 left on a three-pointer before Grieger's jumper gave UWL an 82-77 lead with :46 remaining. UW-River Falls cut it to 82-79 with :32 left, but Thomas (:30) and Derousseau (:14) both made two free throws to clinch the victory.
UWL shot 60.7% from the field, including 38.1% (eight-of-21) from three-point range, and 76.9% (10-of-13) at the free throw line.
All five starters scored in double figures with Derousseau leading with 22 points. Thomas finished with 20 points while Grieger had 14. Paider and Fuhrmann each added 11 points. Paider added a team-high seven rebounds and four assists.
UW-River Falls shot 50.8% from the field, also finishing at 38.1% (eight-of-21) from three-point range, while shooting 83.3% (five-of-six) at the line.
Johnson led the Falcons with 16 points while Merritt finished with 14 and Adams 12.
UWL returns to action Saturday, February 22 hosting UW-Stevens Point at 5 p.m. in the regular season finale. The Eagles will honor their six seniors prior to the start of the game.
