La Crosse, Wis. – The University of Wisconsin-La Crosse men's basketball team advanced to the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division III Sweet 16 with a 79-62 victory over Claremont-Mudd-Scripps Colleges (Calif.) Saturday night in Mitchell Hall in the NCAA Division III Second Round.
The Eagles, ranked 14th on D3hoops.com and 13th in the National Power Index (NPI), improve to 24-6 on the season. The Stags, 19th on D3hoops.com and 27th in the NPI, ends their season at 23-5.
The 24 wins for UWL are second in single-season school history after setting a school record with 25 a year ago.
UWL advances to play at the University of Mary Washington (Va.) in the NCAA Division III Sweet 16 on either Friday, March 13 for Saturday, March 14 in Fredericksburg, Virginia. The Eagles of Mary Washington (Va.) advanced in the tournament with a 81-64 second round home victory over Amherst College (Mass.). Mary Washington (Va.) is ranked fifth on D3hoops.com and fourth in the NPI.
It marks UWL's second straight trip to the Sweet 16 after advancing to the Elite Eight last season.
Dustin Derousseau totaled 19 points, five rebounds, four steals,
three assists and three blocks Saturday.
CMS (Calif.) led, 10-9, with 15:09 left in the first half when it used a 7-0 run to extend it to 17-9 with 13:09 remaining on Reid Jones' layup. The Stags later led, 21-15, after a Jones jumper, but the Eagles used a 10-0 run to take a 25-21 lead on
Devon Fielding's three-point field goal.
Sam Grieger's three-pointer for UWL gave the Eagles a 28-25 lead with 4:32 remaining before Cahal Connolly's jumper for CMS (Calif.) cut it to 28-27. UWL took a 36-27 advantage with :28 left in the first half on
Jack Crowley's three-point field goal, but Jones made a three-pointer of is own with :04 remaining to make it 36-32 at halftime.
After Connolly made one-of-two free throws for the Stags with 15:33 left in the game to cut the deficit to 43-40, the Eagles went on a 15-0 run to extend their lead to 58-40 with 10:58 remaining. Will Householter's three-point field goal cut it to 58-43, but
Dustin Derousseau's free throw and Fielding's three-pointer gave UWL its largest lead of the game at 62-43 with 9:49 left.
CMS (Calif.) could get no closer than 14 points the rest of the game.
UWL shot 50.0% from the field Saturday, including 52.6% (10-of-19) from three-point range, and 67.9% (19-of-28) at the free throw line.
Grieger led the Eagles with 36 points, going 13-of-22 from the field, including one-of-three from three-point range, and nine-of-11 at the line. Derousseau finished with 19 points, five rebounds, four steals, three assists and three blocks. Fielding totaled nine points and team-high 11 rebounds off the bench.
CMS (Calif.) shot 35.5% from the field, including 23.5% (four-of-17) from three-point range, and 50.0% (four-of-eight) at the line.
Devon Fielding finished with nine points and team-high 11 rebounds
off the bench in Saturday's win.
Householter led the Stags with 18 points while Jones finished with 16 and Connolly 13. Joey Kennedy totaled nine points and team-high 11 rebounds.
UWL is making its fifth appearance in the NCAA III Tournament this season, advancing to the Elite Eight for the first time in school history last season. The Eagles are 6-4 all-time in the national championships after Saturday's victory. UWL earned a 75-61 victory over Hope College (Mich.) in Friday's opening round.
