Superior, Wis. – The University of Wisconsin-La Crosse men's basketball team earned a 80-74 win over St. Olaf College (Minn.) Saturday afternoon at the UW-Superior NBC Tip-Off Classic in Mertz Mortorelli Gymnasium.
The Eagles improve to 1-1 while the Oles drop to 0-2.
RANKINGS
* UWL is ranked 18th on the D3hoops.com Top 25 Preseason Poll.
SERIES RECORD
* UWL leads the all-time series, 2-0, with St. Olaf (Minn.).
* The teams were meeting for the first time since the 1961-62 season.
Jackson Hayes finished with 26 points
and six rebounds.
HOW IT HAPPENED – FIRST HALF
* St. Olaf scored the first five points of the game on a Cooper Carlson layup and AJ Uhl three-pointer. The five point lead would be the largest lead until Uhl's layup gave the Oles a 32-26 advantage with 7:02 left.
* Max Kraay made it 36-28 with 4:28 remaining on a layup, but UWL ended the half on a 13-3 run to take a 41-39 lead.
*
Jackson Hayes had four points in the run for the Eagles while
Sam Grieger,
Ben Goedheer and
Ian Kowal each scored three.
* UWL shot 48.3% from the field, including 25.0% (three-of-12) from three-point range, and 83.3% (10-of-12) at the free throw line.
* St. Olaf shot 57.1% from the field, including 42.9% (six-of-14) from three-point range, and 50.0% (one-of-two) at the line.
HOW IT HAPPENED – SECOND HALF
* St. Olaf cut the lead to 50-49 with 15:20 left when UWL's
Eli Schroeder and Hayes each made a three-pointer to extend the Eagles lead to 56-49.
* UWL took its largest lead at 59-51 with 12:26 remaining on a Hayes free throw.
* Carlson's layup with 8:09 left later cut the deficit to 65-64. He later tied the game at 69-69 with 5:56 remaining on a jumper.
* Three straight layups from Grieger gave UWL a 75-69 advantage, but Uhl later cut it to 75-74 with 2:30 left on a three-point play.
* Hayes' layup with 2:07 remaining gave the Eagles a 77-74 lead after a missed layup by the Oles, Grieger converted a pair of free throws with :20 left for a 79-74 lead.
* Chris Willis missed a three-pointer for St. Olaf with :06 remaining and Hayes finished the scoring with a free throw with :05 left.
UWL TEAM STATISTICS
* The Eagles shot 46.7% from the field, including 26.1% (six-of-23) from three-point range, and 69.2% (18-of-26) at the line.
EAGLES' LEADERS
* Grieger led UWL with 30 points and eight assists, going 11-of-18 from the field and eight-of-12 at the line.
* Hayes finished with 26 points and six rebounds. He went nine-of-20 from the field, including two-of-10 from three-point range, and six-of-eight at the line.
*
Jack Crowley had 11 points and five rebounds.
ST. OLAF TEAM STATISTICS
* The Oles shot 51.9% from the field, including 37.0% (10-of-27) from three-point range, and 66.7% (eight-of-12) at the line.
OLES' LEADERS
* Uhl led five players in double figures for St. Olaf with 19 points. He also had six rebounds.
* Carlson totaled 17 points while Luther Tostrud finished with 13. Tostrud had a game-high seven rebounds.
* Willis finished with 12 points and Kraay 11.
NEXT UP
* UWL returns to action Friday, November 13 versus Augsburg University (Minn.) at 7:30 p.m. in the Wartburg College (Iowa) Buzz Levick Tournament.
