UW-La Crosse 61, UW-Superior 57
La Crosse, Wis. - The UW-La Crosse men's basketball team, ranked 23rd on this week's D3hoops.com Top-25 Poll, held on for a 61-57 victory over UW-Superior Wednesday night in Mitchell Hall. The Eagles improve to 12-2 overall and 4-1 in the WIAC while the Yellowjackets fall to 7-5 overall and 1-3 in the conference.
With the victory, UW-L equals its conference win total from last season when it finished 4-12. The Eagles have already surpassed last year's overall win total after going 10-15 in 2008-09.
UW-L trailed 15-14 with 8:46 left in the first half when it went on a 10-0 run to lead 24-15.
Trevor Stratton scored six points and
Tony Mane four in the Eagles' run.
The Eagles led 32-21 at halftime.
UW-L led by as many as 12 points in the second half, including 42-30 with 15:12 remaining. UW-Superior cut the lead to 46-41 with 9:00 left after a pair of Trent Davis free throws, but Stratton scored the game's next four points for a nine-point UW-L lead with 7:22 left. The Yellowjackets came right back with a 10-3 run to make it 53-51 with 4:29 remaining after a Ben Aalfs three-pointer.
Stratton missed a layup for UW-L with 2:42 left, but Mane picked up the offensive rebound and hit a three-pointer to give the Eagles' a 56-51 lead. It was Mane's first points of the second half. Dwight Hill hit a jumper for UW-Superior to cut the lead to 56-53 with 2:23 left, but the Eagles' converted five-of-six free throws in the final :29 to earn the win.
Stratton and Mane led UW-L with 17 points each. Stratton went eight-of-17 from the field, including hitting his only three-point attempt. Mane finished seven-of-18 from the field, including one-of-five from three-point range. He finished two-of-two at the free throw line.
Andy Merklein grabbed a team-high nine rebounds while
Andrew Haass finished with seven points and eight rebounds.
Jordan Rumpel had seven rebounds.
UW-L shot 38.1% from the field, including 44.4% (four-of-nine) from three-point range, and 75.0% (nine-of-12) at the line.
Jake Smith led UW-Superior with 21 points and 11 reobunds while Hill and Dan Culy each scored 12 points. The Yellowjackets shot 38.3% from the field, including 29.4% (five-of-17) from three-point range, and 60.0% (six-of-10) at the free throw line.
UW-L returns to action Saturday, Jan. 9 at second-ranked UW-Stevens Point at 5:05 p.m.