Platteville, Wis - The University of Wisconsin-La Crosse men's basketball team fell, 89-78, at UW-Platteville Saturday night on Bo Ryan Court. The Eagles, ranked sixth on this week's D3hoops.com Top 25 Poll, drop to 11-3 overall and 1-2 in the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (WIAC) while the Pioneers improve to 11-3 overall and 3-0 in the conference

UW-Platteville has won the last six meetings with UWL and 11 of the last 12 overall.

Neither team led by more than three points for the most of the first half. The Pioneers took an 11-8 lead on a Miles Hettinger layup, but Sam Ferge's three-pointer and Sam Grieger's layup gave the Eagles a 13-11 lead. After another Hettinger layup, Carter Wollan hit a three-point field goal with 12:39 left to give UWL a 16-13 advantage.

JJ Paider's layup with 9:59 remaining later gave UWL a 21-20 lead. UW-Platteville took a 26-23 lead on a Bristol Lewis three-point field goal before Dustin Derousseau's three-pointer for UWL tied the game with 8:15 remaining.

UW-Platteville went on a 11-2 run to take a 37-28 lead with 5:04 left. Five different players scored for the Pioneers in the run, including a Lucas Rameker three-pointer.

Derousseau's layup with 2:21 remaining cut the deficit to 39-32 when Lewis connected on back-to-back three-pointers to extend UW-Platteville's lead to 45-32. Wollan's three-point field goal with 1:27 left cut it to 45-35 and Derousseau's two free throws with :12 remaining cut the halftime lead to 45-37.

UIWL cut the lead to 50-42 on Grieger's three-point play, but four points from Joey Fuhremann gave UW-Platteville a 54-42 advantage. The Eagles could get no closer than eight points the rest of the game.

UW-Platteville led by as many as 20 points in the second half at 78-58 with 7:26 remaining. UWL went on a 13-2 run to cut the deficit to 80-71 with 4:03 left on a pair of Derousseau free throws. The Pioneers went seven-of-10 at the line in the final 2:19.

UWL shot 45.9% from the field, including 30.0% (six-of-20) from three-point range, and 88.9% (16-of-18) at the free throw line.

Grieger led the Eagles with 27 points and five assists while Derousseau finished with 19 points and three steals. Paider had a team-high six rebounds.

UW-Platteville shot 59.2% from the field, including 66.7% (18-of-27) in the first half. The Pioneers shot 50.0% (nine-of-18) from three-point range in the game and 81.5% (22-of-27) at the line.

Hettinger led five players in double figures for the Pioneers with 23 points. Lewis finished with 22 points and six rebounds while Aiden Wieczork totaled 13 points. Rameker added 11 points Max Love 10. Fuhremann totaled a game-high seven rebounds.

UWL returns to action Wednesday, January 14 hosting UW-Whitewater at 7 p.m.