La Crosse, Wis. - The University of Wisconsin-La Crosse men's basketball team dropped its third straight game with a 63-60 loss to UW-Whitewater Wednesday night in Mitchell Hall.
The Eagles, ranked 18th on this week's D3hoops.com Top 25 Poll, fall to 11-4 overall and 1-3 in the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (WIAC) while the Warhawks improve to 11-4 overall and 2-2 in the conference.
It is UW-Whitewater's third win in the last 10 meetings with UWL.
Sam Grieger finished with 21 points and eight rebounds.
The Warhawks never trailed Wednesday, racing out to an 11-2 lead with 12:16 left in the first half on a Richie Warren jumper. UWL missed 14 of its first 15 shots from the field to start the game. The Eagles cut the lead to 15-9 with 7:14 remaining on a pair of
JJ Paider free throws, but the Warhawks went on a 7-0 run to extend the lead to 22-9 with 5:39 left after two Luke Bara free throws.
Paider's layup with 2:53 remaining cut the deficit to 26-18 when UW-Whitewater ended the half on a 7-2 run to lead 33-20.
UWL shot 25.8% (eight-of-31) from the field in the first half, missing all 13 of its three-point attempts. The Eagles were four-of-10 (40.0%) at the free throw line in the first half.
UW-Whitewater missed all five of its three-point attempts in the first half, but were nine-of-11 (81.8%) at the line.
The Warhawks took their largest lead of the game at 49-30 with 13:34 remaining on a Warren layup. Six free throws from
Sam Grieger cut the lead to 49-36. Isaac Verges' free throw gave UW-Whitewater a 50-36 lead with 10:36 left, but UWL went on an 8-0 run to cut it to 50-44 with 8:09 remaining after
Jack Crowley's layup.
Dustin Derousseau had four points in the run.
UW-Whitewater later took a 56-46 lead with 5:41 left when UWL used an 8-1 run to cut the lead to 57-54 with 4:01 remaining on a Grieger jumper.
Collin Madson's two free throws with 1:23 left gave the Warhawks a 63-58 lead. Grieger's layup with 1:12 remaining cut it to 63-60. Warren missed a pair of free throws with :12 left, but Grieger missed a three-point attempt with :02.
Dustin Derousseau totaled 18 points, nine rebounds,
three blocks and three steals.
UWL shot 35.0% from the field, including 4.5% (one-of-22) from three-point range, and 63.0% (17-of-27) at the free throw line.
Grieger led the Eagles with 21 points while adding eight rebounds. Derousseau totaled 18 points, nine rebounds, three blocks and three steals with Paider finishing with 11 points and nine rebounds.
UW-Whitewater shot 33.3% from the field, including 22.2% (four-of-18) from three-point range, and 74.2% (23-of-31) at the line.
Bara led the Warhawks with 22 points while Verges and Warren each finished with 12. Jake Quast had a team-high nine rebounds.
UWL returns to action Saturday, January 17 at UW-Eau Claire at 5 p.m.
