Eau Claire, Wis. - The University of Wisconsin-La Crosse men's basketball team earned a 60-55 victory at UW-Eau Claire Saturday night at the Sonnentag Event Center.
The Eagles, ranked sixth on this week's D3hoops.com Top-25 Poll, improve to 17-4 overall and 8-2 in the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (WIAC). The Blugolds drop to 14-7 overall and 6-4 in the conference.
With the win, UWL completes the regular season sweep of UW-Eau Claire after a 69-55 victory in La Crosse earlier this year.
JJ Paider recorded 14 points and eight rebounds.
UWL has won seven of its last eight games overall and 11 of 13.
UWL took a 7-4 lead on
JJ Paider's three-point play on Saturday night with 17:20 left in the first half when UW-Eau Claire went on an 8-0 run to take a 12-7 lead with 15:01 remaining. Cade Hall had a three-pointer to open the run while Carter Huschka scored five points.
The Blugolds took a 17-11 lead with 11:45 left on a Grant Paetzold layup when the Eagles'
Sam Grieger connected on a layup and
Will Fuhrmann a three-pointer to cut the deficit to 17-16. Huschka's three-point play gave UW-Eau Claire a 20-16 lead with 9:18 remaining, but five straight points from Fuhrmann gave UWL a 21-20 lead with 8:11 left.
Seven straight points from the Blugolds gave UW-Eau Claire a 27-21 advantage. The Blugolds took their largest lead of the first half at 31-23 with 2:49 left on a pair of Andre Renta free throws. UWL cut the halftime lead to 35-28 on
Dustin Derousseau's jumper at the first half buzzer.
Renta's layup with 14:04 remaining gave UW-Eau Claire its largest lead of the game at 43-33. UWL used a 12-1 run to take a 45-44 lead with 9:48 left on a Derousseau three-point field goal.
After Renta and Grieger traded baskets to make it 47-46, Hall's three-pointer gave UW-Eau Claire a 49-47 lead with 7:55 remaining. Derousseau's layup for UWL tied the game at 49-49 and his free throw with 6:54 left gave the Eagles a 50-49 advantage.
Huschka's layup gave the Blugolds a 51-50 lead with 6:25 remaining. Paider's two free throws with 5:40 left gave the Eagles a 52-51 lead, but Renta's layup gave the Blugolds a 53-52 lead with 3:11 remaining. Derousseau delivered a go-ahead layup or UWL with 2:53 left to make it 54-53.
Will Furhmann finished with
10 points and eight rebounds.
Two free throws from Grieger with :57 remaining made it 56-53. Huschka's two free throws with :47 left cut the lead to 56-55, but Paider's put-back layup with :15 remaining extended the lead to 58-55. Michael Casper's three-pointer was missed with :09 left and Grieger finished the scoring with a pair of free throws with :01 remaining.
UWL shot 38.3% from the field, including 18.2% (four-of-22) from three-point range, and 66.7% (10-of-15) at the free throw line.
Grieger led the Eagles with 18 points, 10 rebounds, five steals and two assists. Paider finished with 14 points and eight rebounds while Derousseau totaled 12 points and team-high two blocks. Fuhrmann finished with 10 points and eight rebounds.
UW-Eau Claire shot 35.0% from the field, including 16.7% (four-of-24) from three-point range, and 69.2% (nine-of-13) at the line. Huschka led the Blugolds with 19 points and 11 rebounds while Renta totaled 17 points.
UWL returns to action Wednesday, February 12 hosting UW-Whitewater at 7 p.m.
