La Crosse, Wis. - The University of Wisconsin-La Crosse men's basketball team earned a 91-86 home victory over UW-Platteville Saturday on Senior Night.  The Eagles improve to 11-10 overall and 3-7 in the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (WIAC) while the Pioneers fall to 8-11 overall and 1-9 in the conference.  UWL swept the regular-season meetings, picking up a 77-66 victory in Platteville January 21. 

The game was tied 8-8 when UWL went on a 14-0 run to lead 22-8 with 12:20 remaining in the first half.  The Pioneers cut the lead to 26-19 with 9:10 left, but a Zach Schradle jumper and Sam Skoyen three-pointer gave the Eagles a 31-19 advantage.  UWL led 45-34 at halftime. 

UW-Platteville opened the second half scoring the first five points to cut the lead to 45-39.  The Pioneers trailed 55-47 with 14:44 remaining on a pair of Robert Duax free throws when the Eagles went on a 6-0 run to lead 61-47.  UWL took its largest lead of the game at 71-54 with 9:06 left on a Nolan Wright jumper, but UW-Platteville went on a 11-0 run to cut the deficit to 71-65 with 6:54 remaining. 

The Pioneers later cut the lead to 79-76 with 2:10 left on a Cory Vaasen layup, but could get no closer the rest of the game.  The Eagles' Austin Fritz made a pair of free throws with 1:42 remaining and Ryan Kruser hit a three-point field goal with 1:25 left for a 84-76 lead. 

Ben Meinholz led five players in double figures, finishing with 20 points and four steals off the bench.  He was seven-of-11 from the field and six-of-eight at the line.  Schradle finished with 19 points and eight rebounds while Fritz totaled 13 points and seven rebounds.  Kruser (three assists) and Kenny Finco (four assists) each finished with 12 points. 

UW-Platteville shot 46.7% from the field, including 32.0% (eight-of-25) from three-point range, and 71.0% (22-of-31) at the line.  Duax led the Pioneers with 22 points while Matt Oestreich finished with 18.  Trey Sigel added 16 points while Vaasen had 11 points and seven rebounds. 

The teams combined for 48 fouls and finished 47-of-65 at the free throw line.

UWL returns to action Wednesday, February 8 at UW-Oshkosh at 7 p.m.