La Crosse, Wis. - The University of Wisconsin-La Crosse men's basketball team earned a 82-63 victory over UW-Oshkosh Wednesday night in Mitchell Hall, securing its sixth win in its last seven games.
The Eagles, ranked 21st on the D3hoops.com Top 25 Poll and 22nd in the NCAA Power Index (NPI), improve to 18-6 overall and 8-5 in the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (WIAC). The Titans, ranked 25th on D3hoops.com and 27th in the NPI, drop to 17-7 overall and 8-5 in the conference.
Sam Grieger scored a game-high 26 points Wednesday night.
It is UWL's fifth win in the last six meetings with UW-Oshkosh. The Titans earned a 121-115 overtime victory over UWL on January 7.
UWL never trailed in Wednesday's win, racing out to a 14-2 lead as
Sam Grieger scored eight points. UW-Oshkosh missed seven of its first eight shots from the field. The Eagles took a 19-9 lead with 11:16 left in the first half on a
JJ Paider layup when the Titans went on a 8-0 run to cut the deficit to 19-17 with 7:24 remaining on Michael Metcalf-Grassman's layup.
Six straight points from UWL extended the lead to 25-17. Metcalf-Grassman later cut the lead to 28-22 with 4:12 left, but the Eagles ended the half on an 11-5 run to take a 39-27 lead.
Grieger's two free throws with 17:00 remaining gave UWL a 46-32 lead. UW-Oshkosh cut it to 48-41, but the Titans could get no closer the rest of the contest.
Carter Wollan's three-point play with 8:16 left gave the Eagles a 61-46 lead and
Jack Crowley's jumper later extended the lead to 65-48 with 7:24 remaining. The Titans cut it to 65-54 when Wollan's four points and a layup from Paider gave the Eagles a 71-54 advantage. UWL led by as many as 21 points in the second half.
UWL shot 44.6% from the field, including 26.7% (four-of-15) from three-point range, and 95.2% (20-of-21) at the free throw line.
Carter Wollan scored 14 points off the bench.
Grieger led the Eagles with 26 points, including 20 in the first half. He added eight rebounds. Crowley and Wollan each finished with 14 points while Paider recorded a double-double with 12 points and 11 rebounds.
UW-Oshkosh shot 31.3% from the field, including 22.0% (nine-of-41) from three-point range, and 66.7% (12-of-18) at the line.
Metcalf-Grassman led the Titans with 19 points while Logan Rindfleisch finished with 13.
UWL returns to action Saturday, February 21 hosting UW-Eau Claire on Senior Night in the regular season finale at 5 p.m.
