La Crosse, Wis. - The University of Wisconsin-La Crosse men's basketball team opened its 2013-14 Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (WIAC) season with a 80-52 victory over UW-River Falls Wednesday night in Mitchell Hall.  The Eagles improve to 5-1 overall and 1-0 in the WIAC while the Falcons fall to 3-4 overall and 0-1 in the conference.  UW-L earned its fourth straight win over UW-River Falls.

UW-River Falls took a 3-1 lead on Devin Buckley's three-point field goal with 18:51 left in the first half, but UW-L went on a 16-0 run to lead 17-3.  The Eagles went seven-of-eight from the field in their run. 

The Falcons came back to cut the deficit to 17-10 with 11:43 remaining in the half and later trailed 23-14 with 9:07 left.  The Eagles then used a 10-1 run to lead 33-15 with 6:57 left. 

UW-L led 49-26 at halftime, shooting 76.0% (19-of-25) from the field. 

UW-River Falls scored the first 10 points of the second half to cut the lead to 49-36 as UW-L missed its first six shots from the field.  The Falcons trailed 51-39 with 15:48 remaining, but could get no closer the rest of the game. UW-L scored six straight points to lead 57-39. 

UW-L shot a season-high 58.3% (28-of-48) from the field.  The team shot 45.0% (nine-of-20) from three-point range and 60.0% (15-of-25) at the line. 

Calahan Skogman led UW-L with 15 points Wednesday night while Cale Zuiker finished with 12 and Trent Schmidt 11.  Zuiker was four-of-four from the field and four-of-four at the free throw line while Schmidt finished four-of-four from the field, including one-of-one from three-point range, and two-of-three at the line.  Thirteen of the 14 players who saw action for UW-L scored.  Lucas Collom had a team-high five rebounds.

UW-River Falls shot 37.8% from the field, including 36.8% (seven-of-19) from three-point range.  The Falcons shot 47.8% (11-of-23) at the free throw line.

Ben Gresmer and Ollie White led UW-River Falls with 13 points each while Jay Sewer finished with 10. Grant Erickson had a team-high five rebounds. 

UW-L returns to action Saturday, December 7 hosting UW-Eau Claire at 7 p.m.