La Crosse, Wis. - The University of Wisconsin-La Crosse men's basketball team earned its fourth straight victory with a 73-54 win over UW-River Falls Wednesday night in Mitchell Hall. The Eagles improve to 12-3 overall and 5-1 in the WIAC while the Falcons drop to 5-10 overall and 0-6 in the conference. 

UW-L, receiving votes on this week's D3hoops.com Top-25 Poll, raced out to a 14-0 lead, hitting its first five shots from the field, including four 3-point field goals. UW-River Falls got on the scoreboard on Arik Smith's three-point play with 15:54 remaining to make it 14-3, but UW-L used a 21-7 run to lead 35-10 with 7:39 left. The 25-point margin was the Eagles biggest lead of the contest. 

UW-L led 40-18 at halftime, finishing 10-of-26 (38.5%) from three-point range. Five players had at least one three-point field goal in the first 20 minutes, including three each byJeff Heiden and Trent Schmidt. 

UW-River Falls trailed 50-29 with 15:30 left when it went on a 14-2 run to make it 52-43 with 9:47 remaining. UW-L then used a 13-2 run to lead 65-45 with 6:13 remaining. The Falcons could get no closer than 16 points the rest of the game. 

Five players scored in double figures for UW-L. Heiden, Luke Tweed and Lucas Collom each finished with 14 points while Cale Zuiker had 12 and Schmidt 11. Zuiker had a team-high five rebounds while Tweed finished with four assists, three steals and three rebounds. 

UW-L shot 45.2% from the field, including 37.1% (13-of-35) from three-point range. The Eagles shot 80.0% (four-of-five) at the free throw line. 

Smith led UW-River Falls with 17 points.

UW-River Falls shot 34.7% from the field, including 14.3% (two-of-14) from three-point range. The Falcons shot 85.7% (18-of-21) at the line.

UW-L returns to action Saturday, January 12 at 10th-ranked UW-Stevens Point at 3 p.m.