La Crosse, Wis. – The University of Wisconsin-La Crosse men's basketball team earned a 87-83 victory over UW-Stout Tuesday night in the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (WIAC) Tournament (presented by Culver's) First Round in Mitchell Hall.
The Eagles, ranked 18th on this week's D3hoops.com Top 25 Poll in the NCAA Power Index (NPI), improve to 20-6 on the season while the Blue Devils end their year at 9-17.
Sam Grieger finished with 18 points and five assists.
It is the ninth season in school history with at least 20 victories for UWL, including second straight. The Eagles won a school record 25 games last season.
With Tuesday's win, third-seeded UWL advances to the WIAC Tournament Semifinals at second-seeded UW-Stevens Point on Thursday, February 26 at 7 p.m. UWL will make its 13th appearance in school history in the tournament semifinals, including seventh in the last eight seasons. The Eagles are seeking their first WIAC Tournament title in school history, dropping their previous three championship game appearances.
UWL has now won 17 of the last 20 meetings with UW-Stout.
The Eagles never trailed Tuesday as
Jacob Butler and
Jack Crowley hit three-point field goals to start the game and give UWL a 6-0 lead. UW-Stout scored the next six points to tie the contest, but back-to-back three-pointers from Crowley gave UWL a 12-6 advantage.
The 6-0 runs continued this time for the Blue Devils with Collin Vick's three-point play and Domanyck Schwarzenberger's three-pointer tied the game at 12-12. UWL later took a 22-15 lead with 12:16 remaining on a pair of
Sam Grieger free throws. After two free throws by UW-Stout's Nolan Stauffacher cut the deficit to 26-20 with 10:05 left,
Carson Bauer's two free throws and three-point field goals from Butler and Bauer extended UWL's lead to 34-20 with 8:31 remaining.
Dustin Derousseau's three-pointer with 7:02 left gave UWL a 39-24 lead. UW-Stout cut it to 42-34 when UWL ended the half on a 7-0 run to lead 49-34.
UWL took its largest lead of the game at 60-38 with 16:32 remaining and later led, 72-62 with 6:24 left. UW-Stout went on a 10-2 run to cut the lead to 74-72 with 4:25 remaining on a Schwarzenberger's three-pointer.
JJ Paider totaled 19 points and six rebounds in Tuesday's win.
The Blue Devils trailed, 78-76 with 3:11 left, when Butler connected on a three-point field goal to make it 81-76 with 2:49 remaining. AJ Uttech's jumper cut it to 81-78 before two free throws by
JJ Paider restored a five point lead for UWL.
Wesley Mboga's tip-in with 1:11 cut the deficit to 83-80, but UW-Stout could get no closer. The teams traded turnovers before Paider's dunk off a Derousseau steal and assist gave UWL a 85-80 lead with :18 remaining. Paider connected on a pair of free throws with :14 left for the final scoring after a Schwarzenberger turnover for UW-Stout.
UWL shot 43.1% from the field, including 41.9% (13-of-31) from three-point range, and 85.7% (18-of-21) at the free throw line.
Crowley led the Eagles with 21 points, going seven-of-13 from three-point range. He had 18 points in the first half. Paider finished with 19 points and six rebounds while Grieger totaled 18 points and five assists. Butler had 11 points and three steals with Derousseau finishing with nine points, seven assists and three steals.
UW-Stout shot 44.3% from the field, including 40.7% (11-of-27) from three-point range, and 72.0% (18-of-25) at the line.
Schwarzenberger led the Blue Devils with 29 points while Uttech had 15. Vick totaled 12 points, seven rebounds and five assists while Mboga finished with 11 points and eight rebounds.
