La Crosse, Wis. - The University of Wisconsin-La Crosse men's basketball team extended its winning streak to five with a 92-67 victory over UW-Platteville Saturday night in Mitchell Hall.
The Eagles, ranked 23rd on this week's D3hoops.com Top 25 Poll, improve to 16-5 overall and 6-4 in the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (WIAC) while the Pioneers, receiving votes on the D3hoops Poll, drops to 14-7 overall and 6-4 in the conference.
Dustin Derousseau had 21 points and four steals.
UWL is 29th in this week's NCAA Power Index and UW-Platteville 23rd.
The Eagles snapped a six-game losing streak to the Pioneers with Saturday's win. UW-Platteville has won 11 of the last 13 overall.
UWL never trailed Saturday, racing out to a 9-0 lead. The Eagles took a 12-2 lead on
Dustin Derousseau's three-point play with 15:30 remaining in the first half when the Pioneers scored the next five points to cut it to 12-7 on an Aiden Wieczorek three-point play.
UW-Platteville cut the lead to 17-13 with 10:32 remaining on a Wieczorek layup, but could get no closer the rest of the game. Leading 21-15, UWL went on a 6-0 run on a
Ben Goedheer layup, two free throws from
Sam Grieger and a dunk from Derousseau. The Eagles led by as many as 13 points in the first half before taking a 41-33 halftime advantage.
Joey Fuhremann's free throw with 17:46 left cut the lead to 43-36, but could get no closer in the second half. UWL took a 48-40 lead with 15:48 remaining when it used a 12-0 run to extend its lead to 60-40 with 12:23 left.
The Eagles led by many as 27 points in the second half. During a stretch in the second half, Grieger scored 16 of UWL's 20 points.
Ben Goedheer scored nine points off the bench Saturday.
UWL shot 52.4% from the field, including 26.1% (six-of-23) from three-point range, and 80.0% (20-of-25) at the free throw line. The Eagles shot 59.4% (19-of-32) from the field in the second half.
The 92 points versus UW-Platteville are the most since a 92-60 victory on February 6, 2002. It is the also the highest winning margin over the Pioneers since a 88-57 win on January 6, 2016.
Grieger led UWL with 31 points while adding seven rebounds, three assists and two steals. He became the 10th player in single-season school history to reach 500 points Saturday, now totaling 529 this year. Grieger scored 18 points in the second half.
Derousseau finished with 21 points, four rebounds and four steal while
JJ Paider totaled 11 points, eight rebounds and two assists. Goedheer finished with nine points off the bench and
Carter Wollan eight.
UW-Platteville shot 35.1% from the field, including 15.4% (four-of-26) from three-point range, and 74.2% (23-of-31) at the line. The Pioneers missed all 11 of three-point attempts in the first half.
Wieczorek led the Pioneers with 16 points while Fuhremann finished with 14.
UWL returns to action Wednesday, February 11 hosting UW-Stout at 7 p.m.
