La Crosse, Wis. - The University of Wisconsin-La Crosse men's basketball team fell 60-58 to UW-Platteville Tuesday night in Mitchell Hall in a Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (WIAC) Tournament First Round Game. 

UW-L, the tournament's fourth seed, ends its season at 17-9 while fifth-seeded UW-Platteville advances to play at top-seeded UW-Stevens Point in the tournament semifinals Thursday, February 21. The Pioneers improve to 18-8 with Tuesday's win. 

It marked the third straight year UW-L and UW-Platteville met in the WIAC First Round with each team winning on its opponent home court. The Pioneers earned a 66-63 victory in La Crosse in 2011 while the Eagles earned a 57-56 win in Platteville last season.

Tuesday's game was tied six times in the first half with eight lead changes. Each team led by as many as three points in the first half. Braden Tice gave the Eagles a 27-26 halftime lead on a layup with :05 remaining.

UW-L led 44-43 with 10:03 left after a Jeff Heiden three-point field goal, but Marcus Jackson gave UW-Platteville a 45-44 lead on a jumper with 9:42 remaining. The Pioneers led 47-46 with 7:41 left when they took their largest of the game with a 8-2 run to lead 55-48 with 3:52 left.

The Eagles cut the deficit to 55-53 with five straight points on Trent Schmidt's layup with 3:04 remaining and Lucas Morrissey's three-point field goal with 2:05 left.

Jim Stocki hit a pair of free throws for UW-Platteville to make it 57-53 with 1:22 left and Eric Gerber followed with a layup with :43 remaining for a 59-53 advantage. Tice made a pair of free throws to cut the margin to 59-55 with :35 left, 

After a UW-L timeout, Heiden drove the lane for a layup and was fouled with :25 remaining. He converted the free throw to cut the lead to 59-58.

Jackson was fouled with :19 left. He converted the first free throw for a 60-58 lead, but Rob Stallion was called for a lane violation on the second attempt as Jackson made the free throw. 

Luke Tweed missed a jumper with :06 left and Morrissey missed the put-back with :03 left. Stallion was fouled with :02 remaining, but missed both free throw attempts. Morrissey's three-quarter shot fell short at the buzzer for UW-L. 

The game featured nine ties and 17 lead changes overall.

Schmidt led UW-L with 13 points off the bench while Morrissey finished with 10 points, 16 rebounds, three assists and two blocks. Heiden had eight points and Tweed seven. 

UW-L shot 34.4% from the field, including 23.8% (five-of-21) from three-point range. The Eagles made all 11 of their free throw attempts. 

Chas Cross led UW-Platteville with 23 points and 14 rebounds while Stocki finished with 15 points and 10 rebounds. Jackson had 10 points. 

UW-Platteville shot 41.8% from the field, including 18.2% (two-of-11) from three-point range. The Pioneers shot 60.0% (12-of-20) at the line.