La Crosse, Wis. - The University of Wisconsin-La Crosse men's basketball team earned its third straight win with a 62-56 victory over Carleton College (Minn.) Wednesday night in Mitchell Hall. The Eagles improve to 6-6 overall while the Knights drop to 3-4. UW-L remained unbeaten at home (5-0) this season with its victory.
UW-L led throughout the first half, racing out to a 13-4 lead with 14:40 remaining. The Eagles led by as many as 13 points in the first half at 21-8 with 10:27 left before taking a 29-23 halftime lead.
Carleton opened the second half on a 9-3 run to force a 32-32 tie with 15:26 remaining. The contest was tied 39-39 with 11:17 left when UW-L's Tony Mane hit a three-pointer with 10:36 left and the Eagles would never trail again.
The Knights trailed 51-50 with 5:06 left after a Caleb Rosenow layup, but Mane hit another three-pointer with 4:58 remaining for a four-point lead. UW-L led 59-53, but Carleton's Tom Sawatzke made a three-point field goal to cut the lead to 59-56 with :58 left. UW-L's Lucas Morrissey then made a three-pointer with :21 left and the shot clock running down to make it 62-56.
Mane led UW-L with 20 points, finishing four-of-five from three-point range. He also moved into second in career scoring at UW-L with 1,708 points. Larry Halverson (1973-77) is the all-time leader with 1,822.
Jordan Rumpel recorded his first career double-double for the Eagles, finishing with 17 points and 11 rebounds. The 17 points set a career-high while the 11 rebounds tied a career-high. Rumpel was seven-of-11 from the field, including one-of-one from three-point range, and two-of-four at the free throw line. He also had a team-high four assists.
Morrissey totaled 11 points and nine rebounds, finishing four-of-six from the field, including three-of-four from three-point range.
UW-L shot 39.7% from the field, including 47.6% (10-of-21) from three-point range. The team shot 54.5% (six-of-11) at the line.
Rosenow and Jeremy Sutherland led Carleton with 19 points each. Rosenow also had nine rebounds and three assists. The Knights shot 41.5% from the field, including 26.7% (four-of-15) from three-point range, and 61.5% (eight-of-13) from the free throw line.
UW-L returns to action Thursday, Dec. 30 hosting Gustavus Adolphus College (Minn.) at 7:05 p.m.