La Crosse, Wis. - The University of Wisconsin-La Crosse men's basketball team earned a 80-58 win over UW-River Falls Tuesday night in Mitchell Hall in the first round of the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (WIAC) Championships (presented by Culver's). The Eagles, ranked 20th on D3hoops.com, improve to 21-5 on the season while the Falcons end their season at 12-14.
Third-seeded UWL advances to play at second-seeded UW-Oshkosh in the tournament semifinals Thursday, February 27 at 7 p.m. The Eagles will be making their eighth appearance in the WIAC Semifinals, including sixth in the last nine seasons. UWL has played in one championship game in school history, falling 83-68 at UW-Stevens Point in 2017.
Making its 17th appearance in the WIAC Tournament, UWL is now 9-16 all-time in conference championship play.
The 21 victories this year for UWL ties the single-season school record set in 1975-76 (21-6).
UWL never trailed Tuesday night, taking a 3-0 lead on Wyatt Cook's three-pointer with 18:33 left. UW-River Falls tied the contest at 5-5 on Noah Hanson's three-point field goal, but a three-pointer from Zac Haese gave UWL an 8-5 lead with 15:03 remaining and the Eagles would lead the rest of the game. The Falcons cut the lead to 30-27 with 2:54 left in the first half after a pair of Alex Ohde free throws, but the Eagles scored the final six points of the half to lead, 36-27. Sam Burkart had a pair of layups in the run.
Ethan Anderson's jumper with 14:31 remaining in the game gave UWL a 46-32 advantage, but UW-River Falls cut the deficit to 48-40 with 13:22 left on Julian Jackson's three-point play. The Falcons would get no closer the rest of the game as the Eagles used a 15-2 run to lead, 63-42 with 9:06 remaining after Terek Nesheim's three-pointer. UW-River Falls could get no closer than 16 points the rest of the contest.
UWL shot 51.7% from the field, including 40.0% (10-of-25) from three-point range, and 66.7% (eight-of-12) at the line.
Cook led four players in double figures with 21 points while adding seven rebounds, three blocks, two assists and two steals. He finished nine-of-15 from the field, including three-of-seven from three-point range. Nesheim finished with 13 points, seven rebounds, three assists and three steals. He was six-of-10 from the field, including one-of-three from three-point range. Ethan Anderson totaled 12 points and team-high eight rebounds while Seth Anderson had 11 points.
UW-River Falls shot 32.1% from the field, including 38.9% (seven-of-18) from three-point range, and 78.9% (15-of-19) at the line.
Jackson and Ohde led the Falcons with 14 points each. Jackson had a team-high eight rebounds.