La Crosse, Wis. - The University of Wisconsin-La Crosse men's basketball team fell 57-56 to UW-Platteville Wednesday night in Mitchell Hall in the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (WIAC) opener for both teams.  The Eagles drop to 3-3 overall and 1-0 in the WIAC while the Pioneers improve to 5-2 overall and 1-0 in the conference.

UW-L took a 4-2 lead on Connor De Bruin's layup before UW-Platteville scored six straight points to lead 8-4. The Pioneers would never trail again.  The game was tied 11-11 with 14:39 remaining in the first half after the Eagles' Jared Staege's layup. UW-Platteville went on a 10-0 run to lead 21-11. 

The Pioneers led 29-17 with 4:49 left in the opening half after a Jake Manning three-point play, but the Eagles used a 11-0 to end the half and cut the lead to 29-28. 

UW-Platteville led 46-38 with 9:08 remaining when UW-L went on a 7-0 run to cut the lead to 46-45 on a Trent Schmidt three-pointer. The Pioneers used a 7-2 run to lead 53-47 with 5:02 left after Wes Nemitz hit a three-point field goal.  UW-L cut the lead to 53-52 on a Schmidt layup and Kenny Finco three-point field goal.  Jim Stocki made a pair of free throws for a 55-52 advantage with 3:34 remaining before Staege's tip-in cut the lead to 55-54 with 1:58 left. 

Matt Oestreich's layup gave UW-Platteville a 57-54 lead with 1:15 remaining, but Staege's jumper cut the lead back to 57-56 with :54 left. The teams traded missed field goal attempts and Stocki missed a pair of free throws with :18 remaining.  Johnny Coenen missed a jumper for UW-L with :04 left and UW-Platteville's Manning was fouled.  He missed both free throws with :02 remaining, but Cale Zuiker's three-pointer was missed at the buzzer.

UW-L shot 37.5% from the field, including 25.0% (four-of-16) from three-point range, and 83.3% (10-of-12) at the free throw line. 

Zuiker led the Eagles with 11 points while Staege finished with 10 points off the bench.  Staege also had six rebounds.  Schmidt finished with nine points while Finco andSkylar Cameron each had seven points.  Finco had a team-high seven rebounds.

UW-Platteville shot 38.5% from the field, including 38.9% (seven-of-18) from three-point range, and 55.6% (10-of-18) at the line. 

Oestreich and Stocki led the Pioneers with 14 points each while Manning finished with 11.  Stocki had a game-high eight rebounds. 

UW-L returns to action Saturday, December 6 hosting UW-Stout at 3 p.m.