River Falls, Wis. - The University of Wisconsin-La Crosse men's basketball team earned a 87-77 victory at UW-River Falls Wednesday night in the Karges Center.  The Eagles, winners of five straight and 12 of their last 14 overall, improve to 15-7 overall and 9-2 in the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (WIAC) while the Falcons drop to 13-9 overall and 7-4 in the conference.  With UWL's win over UW-River Falls and UW-Eau Claire's 71-46 loss at UW-Oshkosh Wednesday, UWL extended its lead to two games in the league standings. 

UWL, receiving votes on this week's D3hoops.com Top-25 Poll, leads the conference with a 9-2 record while UW-Eau Claire, UW-Oshkosh and UW-River Falls are each 7-4.  UWL can clinch at least a share of its first WIAC regular-season title since 1965 with a home win over UW-Oshkosh Saturday night in Mitchell Hall. 

The Eagles never trailed in Wednesday's win.  Leading 19-17 with 12:36 left in the first half, UWL went on a 9-0 run to lead 28-17.  UW-River Falls cut the lead to 35-32 with 4:52 remaining on a Jon Christensen layup and after Brennan Witt hit one-of-two free throws with 2:27 left the Falcons trailed 40-38.  UWL's Ryan Kruser hit a three-point field goal with 2:11 remaining to make it 43-38.  Witt's layup cut the deficit to 43-40, but Devin Yurk's three-pointer with :37 remaining gave UWL a 46-40 halftime lead.

UWL used a 14-5 run to start the second half and led 60-45 with 15:15 left.  Ben Meinholz scored eight points in the run.  The Eagles led 73-53 with 10:01 remaining after a Meinholz jumper when the Falcons went on a 12-2 run to cut the lead to 75-65 with 5:30 left.  Two free throws from Austin Fritz and a Jared Staege three-pointer gave UWL a 80-66 lead with 4:45 remaining.  Garret Pearson's layup with 1:54 left ended a 9-0 Falcons run to cut the Eagles' lead to 80-75, but Staege's three-pointer and Clint Rihn's layup made it 85-75 with a under minute left. 

UWL shot 55.2% from the field Wednesday, including 57.1% (12-of-21) from three-point range, and 78.6% (11-of-14) at the free throw line.  The Eagles shot 59.3% (16-of-27) from the field in the first half, including, 72.7% (eight-of-11) from three-point range.  Meinholz led UWL with 24 points while Yurk finished with 22 and Staege 20 as the three combined for 66 of the team's 87 points.  Meinholz tied for the team lead with five assists with Rihn while Yurk finished with four assists.  Staege had a team-high eight rebounds. 

UW-River Falls shot 43.4% from the field, including 25.0% (five-of-20) from three-point range, and 86.7% (26-of-30) at the line.  Pearson led the Falcons with 28 points while Christensen and CJ Lewis each finished with 11.  Christensen tied Pearson for the team lead with eight rebounds. 

UWL returns to action Saturday, February 13 hosting UW-Oshkosh at 5 p.m. on Alumni Night.