The University of Wisconsin-La Crosse men's basketball team advanced to the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference championship game (presented by Culver's) Wednesday night with a 75-72 win over UW-Oshkosh in Mitchell Hall. The Eagles improve to 8-2 while the Titans finish at 6-2. 

UWL, ranked 14th on D3hoops.com, advances to the WIAC championship game for the second time in school history. The Eagles fell, 83-68, at UW-Stevens Point in the 2007 tournament title game. UWL will host UW-Platteville in the championship game Friday, March 5 at 7 p.m. UW-Platteville advanced with a 67-53 home win against River Falls in the other WIAC semifinal.

• Wednesday's men's scores | Wednesday's women's scores
• St. Thomas ends Tommie-Johnnie rivalry with win | Photos
• Hope women record historic rout of archrival Calvin
• Keene State women join RIC in LEC final

The Eagles held on after losing freshman starter Will Fuhrmann to what appeared to be a broken leg bone late in the first half. Fuhrmann took a fall after trying to block a shot and the game was paused for about 28 minutes before it was able to be resumed.

There was no official word on Fuhrmann's injury.

The game was tied, 12-12 with 10:35 remaining in the first half on Levi Borchert's layup for UW-Oshkosh. UWL used a 17-4 run to take a 29-16 lead with 3:52 left after Wyatt Cook connected on a three-point basket. The Eagles led 38-25 before Eddie Muench hit a three-point for UW-Oshkosh with :08 left to cut the halftime deficit to 38-28.

UWL opened the second half with a 13-2 run to lead 51-30 with 17:00 remaining on a Cook jumper. The Eagles led 56-35 with 15:11 left on Henry Noone's 3-point field goal when the Titans went on a 21-0 run to force a 56-56 tie with 9:43 left on Muench's three-pointer. It was the third straight 3-pointer for Muench, who scored 11 points in the run. UWL missed six straight shots from the field before Cook hit a three-pointer and was fouled on the play with 8:40 remaining. He converted the four-point play for a 60-56 advantage. UW-Oshkosh, ranked ninth on d3hoops.com, scored eight of the next nine points in the game to take a 65-61 lead with 4:57 left on a Muench layup.

UW-La Crosse athletics photo by Bill Lund

Craig Steele and Ethan Anderson each hit a pair of free throws for UWL to force a 65-65 tie with 3:25 remaining. Hunter Plamann's two free throws gave UW-Oshkosh a two-point lead with 3:12 left, but Anderson's layup tied the game with 2:15 remaining. Plamann and Cook exchanged 3-pointers to make it 70-70 with 1:48 remaining. Cook's layup with 0:27 left gave UWL a 72-70 lead and after a UW-Oshkosh missed layup, Anderson made two free throws with 15 seconds remaining to give UWL a 74-70 lead. Brochert's layup with 10 seconds left cut the lead to 74-72 and Steele converted one of two at the line to make it 75-72. Eric Peterson missed a potential game-tying 3-point field goal with three seconds to go.

UWL shot 51.8% from the field, including 40.0% (8-for-20) from 3-point range, and 50.0% (nine-of-18) at the free throw line. Seth Anderson led the Eagles with 17 points while Ethan Anderson totaled 15 points and Cook 14. Seth Anderson and Sean Suchomel finished with a team-high seven rebounds. Suchomel added eight points and seven assists.

UW-Oshkosh shot 38.6% from the field, including 35.5% (11-of-31) from 3-point range, and 100.0% (17-of-17) at the line. Muench led four Titans in double figures with 20 points while Plamann finished with 17 points and six rebounds. Borchert totaled 16 points and team-high 10 rebounds while Will Mahoney finished with 15 points.