UW-Whitewater 67, UW-La Crosse 52
Whitewater, Wis. - The University of Wisconsin-La Crosse men's basketball team fell 67-52 at the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater Wednesday night in the Williams Center. The Eagles drop to 14-7 overall and 6-6 in the WIAC while the Warhawks, ranked sixth on this week's d3hoops.com Top-25 Poll, improve to 17-3 overall and 9-2 in the conference.
UW-L took an early 7-4 lead after a
Tony Mane jumper before UW-Whitewater went on a 14-2 run to take a 18-9 lead with 8:43 left. The Eagles cut the deficit to 18-15, but the Warhawks scored 10 of the next 12 points to lead 28-17. UW-L finished the half on a 9-4 run to cut the halftime lead to 32-26.
UW-Whitewater opened the second half on a 14-2 run to lead 46-28 with 14:35 left. UW-L cut the lead to 50-40 with 9:55 remaining, but could get no closer the rest of the game.
Mane led UW-L with 24 points while
Trevor Stratton finished with eight,
Al Chery seven and
Andy Merklein six. Chery had a game-high 14 rebounds.
UW-L shot 31.7% from the field, including 18.2% (four-of-22) from three-point range, and 66.7% (10-of-15) at the free throw line.
Dustin Mitchell led UW-Whitewater with 21 points and 11 rebounds while Dupree Fletcher had 12 points. Nolan Free finished with nine points and also had 11 rebounds while Mike Bendall had nine points and nine rebounds.
UW-Whitewater shot 40.7% from the field, including 20.0% (three-of-15) from three-point range, and 83.3% (20-of-24) at the line.
UW-L returns to action Saturday, Feb. 6 at UW-Superior at 5:05 p.m.