The Millikin men's basketball team's comeback fell one shot short as the Big Blue lost to Wisconsin-La Crosse 57-54 on January 1, 2015 in the Griswold Center in Decatur, Illinois.

          Millikin had a chance to tie the game at the buzzer, but Jacob Kueker's three pointer was blocked by the Eagles' Kenny Finco.

          Playing for the first time since December 13, Millikin started strong building an 11-4 advantage.  La Crosse used a 27-11 run the rest of the first half to take a 31-20 lead into the locker room.

          The Eagles had a lead as large as 13 points in the second half before Millikin started chipping away in the final five minutes of the contest.  Millikin made it 55-50 with 28 seconds remaining when TJ Griffin converted on a basket and free throw.  After a missed free throw by La Crosse, Millikin cut the lead to 55-52 on a TJ Sims layup with 20 seconds left to play.  Johnny Coenen hit two free throws to give the Eagles a 57-52 advantage with 17 seconds left in the game.  Griffin's layup made it 57-54 with 11 seconds remaining.  Coenen would then miss the front end of a one and one opportunity giving the Big Blue a chance for the tying basket.  Kueker pulled down the rebound and had the shot opportunity at the buzzer, but Finco's block secured the win for Wisconsin-La Crosse.

          La Crosse shot 54 percent from the field in the game while Millikin hit on 41 percent including 50 percent in the second half.  Each team had 27 rebounds. 

          Millikin's top scorer was Griffin with 14 points.  Bryn Agnew added 11 points and four rebounds.  Sims scored 10 points.  Kueker had a team high five rebounds for Millikin.

          Wisconsin La Crosse's top scorer was Cale Zuiker with 14 points and a game high eight rebounds.  Finco added 11 points.

          Wisconsin La Crosse is now 6-6 on the season while Millikin goes to 5-6.

          The Big Blue will open up College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin play on Saturday, Jan. 3 at North Park University in Chicago.