Ashland, Wis. - The University of Wisconsin-La Crosse men's basketball team earned a 62-45 victory at Northland College (Wis.) Thursday night in Chapple Family Gymnasium.  The Eagles improve to 7-3 on the season while the LumberJacks drop to 6-6.  UWL now lead the all-time series, 21-3.

In the first meeting between the team since the 2012-13 season, UWL never trailed in the game.  The Eagles scored the first nine points of the game, including Austin Fritz with the first seven.  After Thomas Whiting got Northland (Wis.) on the board with 15:51 left in the first half to make it 9-2, UWL scored the next six points to lead 15-2.

UWL led by as many as 17 points in the first half, including 23-6 with 8:57 remaining after a Ben Meinholz layup.  The Eagles led 30-15 at halftime.

The Eagles scored the first four points of the second half to lead 34-15 with 18:40 left after a Kenny Finco jumper.  Northland (Wis.) used a 11-2 run to cut the deficit to 36-26 with 15:20 remaining on a Rijo Jackson layup.  Meinholz gave UWL a 47-35 advantage with 10:14 left on a layup, but Northland (Wis.) scored the next six points to cut the lead to 47-41 with 8:42 remaining.  A Ryan Kruser three-pointer and back-to-back layups from Zach Schradle and Fritz gave the Eagles a 54-41 lead with 5:36 left.

The LumberJacks cut the lead to 54-44 on a Dan Campion three-point field goal with 4:09 left, but Northland (Wis.) could get no closer the rest of the game as Finco and Fritz scored on layups to make it 58-44.

UWL shot 47.5% from the field Thursday, including 56.0% (14-of-25) in the second half. The Eagles shot 20.0% (three-of-15) from three-point range in the game and 100.0% (three-of-three) at the free throw line.

Meinholz led UWL with 15 points, five assists and five steals while adding eight rebounds.  Schradle and Fritz recorded double-doubles with Schradle finishing with 14 points and 10 rebounds while Fritz totaled 13 points and 10 rebounds.

Northland (Wis.) shot 34.7% from the field, including 25.0% (six-of-24) from three-point range, and 83.3% (five-of-six) at the line. Jackson led the LumberJacks with 13 points while Thomas Whiting finished with eight points.

UWL returns to action Saturday, December 31 hosting Coe College (Iowa) at 3 p.m.