Mankato, Minn. - The University of Wisconsin-La Crosse men's basketball team improved to 5-0 on the season with a 67-55 victory at Bethany Lutheran College (Minn.) Tuesday night. It marks the Eagles' first 5-0 start since 2005-06 when they started 12-2. UW-L finished 20-8 in 2005-06 and advanced to the NCAA Division III Tournament. Bethany Lutheran falls to 2-3 with Tuesday's loss.

The Vikings raced out to a 7-2 lead with 17:04 left in the first half as Alex Weldon hit a three-pointer. The Eagles quickly came back to force a 7-7 tie as Lucas Morrissey hit a three-point field goal and jumper for all five points. The contest was tied 10-10 when UW-L went on a 20-4 run to lead 30-14 with 6:27 remaining in the half. Luke Tweed scored eight points for the Eagles in the run.

UW-L led 35-23 at halftime.

The Eagles opened the second half on a 11-6 run to lead 46-29 with 14:56 remaining after a Tweed jumper. Bethany Lutheran cut the deficit to 48-39 with 11:44 left on a Patrick Garvin three-pointer, but Jeff Heiden hit a three-pointer for UW-L to make it 51-39. The Vikings could get no closer than 10 points the rest of the game.

Morrissey led UW-L with 20 points, finishing eight-of-eight from the field, including four-of-four on his three-point attempts. He also had eight rebounds and four assists.

Tweed and Heiden each finished with 13 points. Tweed added four rebounds.

UW-L shot 49.1% from the field, including 39.3% (11-of-28) from three-point range. The Eagles shot 57.1% (four-of-seven) at the line.

Gavin Kroehler led Bethany Lutheran with 12 points while Weldon finished with 10. Both players had six rebounds.

Bethany Lutheran shot 41.7% from the field, including 45.5% (five-of-11) from three-point range. The team shot 55.6% (10-of-18) at the free throw line.

UW-L opens Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (WIAC) play Saturday, December 1 at UW-Eau Claire at 5 p.m.