Trinity International (Ill.) 71, UW-La Crosse 64

St. Paul, Minn. - The University of Wisconsin-La Crosse men's basketball team fell 71-64 to Trinity International University (Ill.) Saturday night in the championship game of the Bethel University Tip-Off Tournament. The Trojans scored the final 10 points of the game to earn the victory. UW-L falls to 1-2 on the season while Trinity International improves to 4-3.

The Eagles raced out to a 12-1 lead with 16:38 remaining in the first half after a Tony Mane three-pointer, but the Trojans came back to cut the lead to 16-14 with 11:35 left after a Patrick Atkins layup. UW-L used a 9-0 run to take a 25-14 lead and later led 35-32 at halftime.

Ignas Verbus hit a three-point field goal for Trinity International to tie the game with 19:29 remaining, but UW-L scored the next six points to regain the lead. The Eagles led 49-48 with 12:38 left and used a 10-1 run to take a 59-49 advantage with 8:10 remaining on a Jeff Heiden three-pointer. 

Trinity International trailed 64-61 with 3:33 left after UW-L's Luke Tweed hit a jumper, but the Eagles would not score the rest of the game. Daniel Metzelfeld's layup cut the lead to 64-63 and Tyrone Smith's layup gave the Trojans a lead with 2:31 remaining. 

UW-L missed all five of its shots and had two turnovers in the final 3:33 while Trinity International made four-of-five free throws in the last :28.

Mane led UW-L with 26 points, finishing 11-of-25 from the field, including four-of-10 from three-point range. Corey Degner finished with nine points while Al Chery, Michael Hanson and Jordan Rumpel each had six pionts. Chery had a team-high nine rebounds.

UW-L shot 42.2% from the field, including 36.8% (seven-of-19) from three-point range. The Eagles shot 60.0% (three-of-five) at the line.

Verbus led Trinity International with 21 points while Atkins added 17 points and game-high 10 rebounds. Smith finished with 14 points and Metzelfeld 13. 

The Trojans shot 44.1% from the field, including 39.1% (nine-of-23) from three-point range. Trinity International shot 62.5% (10-of-16) at the free throw line for the game.

UW-L returns to action Tuesday, Nov. 23 hosting city-rival Viterbo University at 6:05 p.m. in Mitchell Hall.