La Crosse, Wis. - The University of Wisconsin-La Crosse men's basketball team earned its fifth straight victory Wednesday night with a 81-79 win over UW-Superior in Mitchell Hall. The Eagles improve to 8-6 overall and 3-2 in the WIAC while the Yellowjackets fall to 9-4 overall and 1-3 in the conference. UW-L improved to 7-0 at home this season with Wednesday's victory. The Eagles have won 10 straight regular-season home games.

The contest was tied five times in the first half and featured seven lead changes. Neither team led by more than four in the first half. UW-Superior took a 37-36 halftime lead after Ben Aalfs' three-pointer with :01 remaining.

The Yellowjackets hit nine of their first 10 shots from the field in the second half to take a 59-49 lead with 14:19 left. Jake Smith, who scored seven points in the first half, scored 12 points in just over the first three minutes of the second half. 

Trailing 59-49, UW-L went on a 17-2 run to lead 66-61 with 7:54 remaining. The Eagles later led 74-67 with 4:31 remaining, but the Yellowjackets went on a 8-2 run to make it 76-75 with 2:01 left after a pair of Aalfs free throws. Jordan Rumpel scored his only points of the game on a layup with 1:41 remaining to give UW-L a three-point lead, but Aalfs' tip-in cut the lead back to one with 1:14 left. 

UW-L's Tony Mane hit a jumper with :43 left to make it 80-77. UW-Superior turned the ball over on its next possession, but the Eagles' Jeff Heiden missed a free throw with :25 remaining. The Yellowjackets called timeout with :16 left and Marcus Helland scored on a layup with :10 left to cut the deficit to 80-79. Mane was then fouled with :07 remaining. He hit was one-of-two free throws and UW-Superior called a timeout. Dustin Ritchie followed the timeout and missed a potential game-tying jumper with :01 left. 

Mane led UW-L with 31 points, including 21 in the second half. He was 10-of-16 from the field overall, including two-of-four from three-point range. Mane finished nine-of-10 at the line. Al Chery tied his career-high with 20 points for the Eagles, going eight-of-12 from the field and four-of-four at the free throw line. Cory Degner added 11 points. Rumpel finished with a game-high eight rebounds.

UW-L shot 57.7% from the field, including 68.0% (17-of-25) in the second half. The Eagles shot 33.3% (three-of-nine) from three-point range in the game and 85.7% (18-of-21) at the line.

Smith led UW-Superior with 24 points, including 17 in the second half. Helland and Aalfs each totaled 14 points while Greg Roeder added 11 and Dan Culy 10. Smith and Helland each grabbed six rebounds.

UW-Superior shot 51.6% from the field, including 57.1% (16-of-28) in the second half. The Yellowjackets shot 42.1% (eight-of-19) from three-point range overall and 70.0% (seven-of-10) at the free throw line.

UW-L returns to action Saturday, January 8 at eighth-ranked UW-Stevens Point starting at 3:05 p.m.