Platteville, Wis. - In a match-up of top-six ranked teams, the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse men's basketball team fell, 83-73, to UW-Platteville Wednesday night on Bo Ryan Court. The Eagles, ranked sixth on D3hoops.com, drop to 16-4 overall and 7-2 in the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (WIAC) while the Pioneers, ranked fourth, improve to 18-2 overall and 8-1 in the WIAC.
The Pioneers take a one-game lead over the Eagles in the WIAC standings.Â
With the victory, UW-Platteville sweeps the regular season series with UWL after an 83-75 win earlier this season in La Crosse.
UW-Platteville took a 9-4 lead Wednesday night on Miles Hettinger's layup with 16:44 left in the first half.
JJ Paider's layup for UWL cut the deficit to 9-6 when UW-Platteville went on a 8-2 run to take a 17-8 advantage with 12:55 remaining after Joey Fuhremann's three-point play.
The Eagles used a 9-2 run of their own to cut the lead to 19-17 on a
Griffin Ginder tip-in. UWL later tied the game at 21-21 with 7:28 left on
Julian Hodges' layup.
UWL took its largest lead of the first half at 30-25 with 2:59 remaining on
Karter Thomas' three-pointer. UW-Platteville scored the next six points to a 31-30 lead on a Ben Probst jumper. The game was tied, 33-33, at halftime.
Sam Grieger's free throw with 15:08 left gave UWL a 43-42 lead when UW-Platteville went on an 11-0 run to take a 53-43 lead on a Max Love three-pointer field goal with 11:25 remaining. A Thomas three-point play cut the lead to 53-46.
Love's layup and a pair of Hettinger free throws gave the Pioneers a 57-46 lead. Thomas responded with a layup and
Dustin Derousseau a three-pointer for the Eagles to cut it back to 57-51 with 8:22 remaining.
UW-Platteville led 68-57 with 5:33 left after Logan Pearson's three-point field goal. The Pioneers took their largest lead at 70-57 with 4:38 remaining after a Hettinger layup. The Eagles cut the deficit to 73-64 with 2:33 left on two Grieger free throws.
After a UW-Platteville turnover, Grieger connected on two more free throws to make it 73-66 with 2:08 remaining. Grieger stole the ball on the ensuing UW-Platteville possession and hit a pair of free throws to cut the lead to 73-68 with 2:01 left.
Love made two free throws for UW-Platteville to extend the Pioneers lead to 75-68 and after a missed layup by UWL, Probst's jumper made it 77-68 with 1:25 remaining. Thomas' layup with 1:14 left cut it to 77-70, but the Eagles could get no closer than 79-73 with :32 left.
UWL shot 42.9% from the field, including 16.7% (three-of-18) from three-point range, and 76.2% (16-of-21) at the line. Grieger led the Eagles with 24 points while Thomas finished with 17 and Derousseau 12. Grieger and Derousseau each recorded a double-double, finishing with 10 rebounds each.
UW-Platteville shot 48.5% from the field, including 60.0% (18-of-30) in the second half. The Pioneers shot 23.8% (five-of-21) from three-point in the game and 75.0% (12-of-16) at the line. Love led UW-Platteville with 20 points while Fuhremann, Pearson and Brady Olson each had 11 points. Pearson added a team-high nine rebounds.
UWL returns to action Saturday, February 8 at UW-Eau Claire at 5 p.m.
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