MENOMONIE, Wis. (January 25, 2012) - UW-Stout shot a season-low 26 percent from the floor as UW-River Falls took the conference matchup, 72-50, Wednesday evening at Johnson Fieldhouse.

Stout (6-13, 1-9 WIAC) grabbed the first lead of the game, which lasted for less than two minutes, before trailing for the remainder of the contest.

River Falls (14-5, 8-2 WIAC) inflated their lead in the waning minutes of the first half, using a 12-2 run which featured a trio of three-pointers.  The falcons led by 19 at the break.

The Blue Devil's only threatening run came six minutes into the second half when they went on a 13-0 run to cut a 23-point deficit to just 10.  The comeback was aided by four points from Jarvis Ragland (So, Milwaukee) and back-to-back three pointers from Thomas Scholle-Malone (Jr, Milwaukee) and Josh Pax (Fr, Elmwood).

The Falcons put an end to that, however, as Colin Utke hit a pair of clutch threes to keep a double-digit point separation.  Utke finished 4-for-5 on the night from beyond the arc.

Shane Manor led all scorers with 18 points, and tied teammate Wade Guerin with a game-high 10 rebounds.  Ragland led the Blue Devils with 14 points while Scholle-Malone collected a team-high seven boards.

Coupled with a UW-Stevens Point win over UW-Whitewater, the Falcons are now in a three-way tie with the Pointers and the Warhawks for first place.

Stout will spend this weekend off, and return to conference play next Wednesday, Feb. 1 when they travel to UW-Superior.