La Crosse, Wis. - The University of Wisconsin-La Crosse men's basketball team, ranked fifth on D3hoops.com, fell 80-66 to 17th-ranked Washington University in St. Louis (Mo.) Saturday night in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division III Elite Eight.
Sam Grieger finished with 30 points and eight rebounds.
The Eagles finish their season at 25-6 while the Bears improve to 23-6 and advance to the NCAA Division III Final Four March 20 and 22 in Fort Wayne, Indiana.
UWL was making its first appearance in school history in the NCAA III Elite Eight. The Eagles' 25 victories this year is a single-season school record.
In the first-ever meeting between the two teams, UWL took a 6-0 lead on back-to-back three-pointers from
Will Fuhrmann and
Dustin Derousseau to start the game. WashU (Mo.) later tied the game at 10-10 on Calvin Kapral's jumper, but Derousseau's layup,
Sam Grieger's layup and
JJ Paider's free throw gave UWL a 15-10 lead.
The Eagles took their largest lead at 21-14 with 10:23 left in the first half on a Paider layup. The Bears used a 12-2 run to take a 26-23 lead with 6:27 remaining on a Connor May layup. WashU (Mo.) took a 33-27 lead with 3:39 left on Drake Kindsvater's three-point play.
JJ Paider had 13 points in the game.
UWL went on a 11-2 run to end the half to take a 38-35 lead.
Grieger's jumper with 17:13 remaining gave UWL a 42-37 lead before WashU (Mo.) scored eight of the game's next 10 points to take a 45-44 lead on Kindsvater's layup.
UWL trailed 51-50 with 12:11 left on a Grieger layup, but WashU (Mo.) went on a 12-2 run to extend its lead to 63-52 with 9:09 remaining after May's layup. The Eagles could get no closer than nine points the rest of the game.
UWL shot 41.3% from the field on Saturday, including 18.2% (four-of-22) from three-point range, and 90.9% (10-of-11) at the free throw line.
Grieger led the Eagles with 30 points and eight rebounds while Derousseau finished with 16 points and Paider 13.
Dustin Derousseau totaled 16 points.
WashU (Mo.) shot 43.1% from the field, including 33.3% (eight-of-24) from three-point range, and 76.2% (16-of-21) at the line.
Kindsvater led the Bears with 31 points and 16 rebounds while May finished with 12 points and Ryan Cohen 11.
