Whitewater, Wis. – The University of Wisconsin-La Crosse men's basketball team earned its first Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (WIAC) Tournament (presented by Culver's) title in school history with an 81-78 win at UW-Whitewater Saturday afternoon in Kachel Gymnasium in Williams Center.

The Eagles, ranked 18th on this week's D3hoops.com Top 25 Poll and 14th in the NCAA Power Index (NPI) entering the game, improve to 22-6 on the season and clinch the league's automatic bid to the NCAA Division III Championships.

UW-Whitewater, ranked 22nd on D3hoops.com and 16th in the NPI, drops to 20-7.

Making its fourth-ever appearance in the WIAC Tournament Championship, UWL had lost to UW-Stevens Point (83-68 in 2007) and UW-Platteville (74-47 in 2021; 89-68 in 2025) in its previous three title games. UWL earns is fifth appearance in the NCAA Division III Championships with the automatic bid. The 64-team field will be announced on March 2 at noon.

The Eagles, the tournament's third-seed, took a 11-5 lead with 15:32 left in the first half on a pair of Jack Crowley free throws, but the Warhawks used a 15-3 run to take a 20-13 lead with 9:10 remaining on Brock Marino's tip-in.

Luke Bara's three-pointer gave UW-Whitewater a 33-24 advantage with 5:14 left in the first half and a Collin Madson layup made it 35-28 with 3:59 remaining. UWL ended the half on a 9-2 run to force a 37-37 tie on Devon Fielding's tip-in at the first half buzzer.

UWL took a 55-52 lead with 12:33 left on a pair of Sam Grieger free throws, but UW-Whitewater went on a 13-4 run to take a 65-59 advantage with 9:07 remaining on Bara's layup.

The Warhawks later led, 73-67 with 3:57 left, but two free throws from Dustin Derousseau and a four straight points from Grieger tied the game with 2:03 remaining. Jake Quast's layup gave UW-Whitewater a 75-73 lead with 1:38 left. After JJ Paider converted one-of-two free throws for UWL with 1:18 remaining to make it a one point game, and after a Marino turnover, Jacob Butler's layup with :59 left gave the Eagles a 76-75 lead.

Madson missed a three-point attempt and Paider converted on a three-point play to extend UWL's lead to 79-75 with :16 remaining. Isaac Verges' three-point play with :08 left cut the deficit to one. Derousseau made one free throw for an 80-78 lead, but the rebound on the second attempt went out-of-bounds on UW-Whitewater. Grieger made one-of-two free throws with :04 remaining and Madson's three-point attempt at the buzzer missed.

UWL shot 53.8% from the field, including 15.4% (two-of-13) from three-point range, and 74.2% (23-of-31) at the free throw line. The Eagles shot 60.0% (15-of-25) from the field in the second half.

Grieger led UWL with 33 points while adding six rebounds and three assists. Paider finished with 18 points while Derousseau totaled 17 points, three rebounds and three assists. Butler the Eagles with eight rebounds.

UW-Whitewater, the tournament's top-seed, shot 47.5% from the field Saturday, including 29.2% (seven-of-24) from three-point range, and 65.0% (13-of-20) at the line.

Bara led the Warhawks with 14 points while Madson and Verges each scored 13. Madson had a team-high eight rebounds.