Stevens Point, Wis. – The University of Wisconsin-La Crosse men's basketball team earned an 82-63 victory at-Stevens Point Thursday night in the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (WIAC) Tournament (presented by Culver's) Semifinals at Bennett Court at Quand Fieldhouse.
The Eagles, ranked 18th on this week's D3hoops.com Top 25 Poll and 19th in the NCAA Power Index (NPI), improve to 21-6 on the season and advance to play at UW-Whitewater for the WIAC Tournament Championship on Saturday, February 28 at 3 p.m.
The Pointers, ranked 23rd on D3hoops.com and 15th in the NPI, drops to 19-7.
UWL will be seeking its first WIAC Tournament Championship after dropping its previous three title game appearances. The Eagles have lost to UW-Stevens Point (83-68 in 2007) and UW-Platteville (74-47 in 2021; 89-68 in 2025) in the championship game.
UWL has now won 16 of the last 17 meetings with UW-Stevens Point.
The Eagles never trailed in Thursday's win, scoring the first 12 points of the game with
Sam Grieger scoring six. The Pointers cut the lead to 16-9 with 12:32 left in the first half on a Josiah Butler layup, but five straight points from Grieger extended the Eagles' lead to 21-9.
Butler's three-pointer for UW-Stevens Point cut it to 21-12 when
Devon Fielding connected on a three-pointer and
JJ Paider a layup to make it 26-12 with 9:10 remaining. The Pointers cut the deficit to 34-28 with 3:32 left on Max Raimer layup when the Eagles ended the half on a 7-1 run to take a 41-29 lead.
Carson Bauer's free throw with 15:36 remaining gave UWL a 49-35 advantage, but UW-Stevens Point went on a 6-0 run to cut the lead to 49-41 with 14:10 left. Logan Baumgartner's three-pointer for the Pointers with 11:38 remaining cut the lead to 54-47. Paider's tip-in and Grieger's free throw gave UWL a 57-47 lead.
UW-Stevens Point later cut the deficit to 64-57 with 4:10 left, but
Dustin Derousseau's three-point field goal gave UWL a 67-57 lead. The Pointers could get no closer the rest of the game. UWL's largest lead was the final margin of 19.
UWL shot 53.8% from the field, including 33.3% (six-of-18) from three-point range, and 76.9% (20-of-26) at the free throw line. The Eagles shot 57.6% (15-of-26) from the field in the first half.
Grieger led UWL with 29 points while adding seven rebounds and two assists. He was nine-of-10 at the free throw line. Derousseau finished with 18 points, six assists and two steals while Paider totaled 17 points and seven rebounds.
With his 29 points Thursday, Grieger set UWL's single-season school record with 669 points. He breaks
Tony Mane's record of 666 points in 2010-11.
UW-Stevens Point shot 37.3% from the field, including 25.0% (eight-of-32) from three-point range, and 84.6% (11-of-13) at the line.
Butler led the Pointers with 20 points while Baumgartner finished with 18. Raimer totaled 12 points off the bench.
