The University of Wisconsin-La Crosse men’s basketball team played against Hope College Friday night in Mitchell Hall with a 75-61 victory in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division III first round. The Eagles now have a record of 23-6 and hosted Claremont-Mudd-Scripps (CMS) Colleges in the second round of the NCAA Division III men’s basketball tournament Saturday, March 7.
The Flying Dutchmen opened the game by scoring the first eight points. JJ Paider eared a layup with 16:17 left in the first half, Charles Howell then gave Hope College a 10-5 lead with a layup of his own. UWL then went on a 16-0 run.
With 13:53 remaining on the clock UWL’s Dustin Derousseau shot a three-pointer that gave UWL a 12-10 lead and the Eagles did not trail the remainder of the game. Seven points were won by Sam Grieger and two from Derousseau made it 21-10. Hope college later cut the lead 29-21 with 2:28 remaining for time; they left off on a free throw from Brendan Cargill but a 10-0 run by UWL created a larger gap making the score 39-21.
As the time counted down UWL reached their largest lead of the game at 1:08 left in the first half with a score of 41-23 from a three-pointer from Derousseau. By half time UWL was in the lead with a score of 42-27.
Coming off of half time with 18:27, Paider had a three-pointer that advanced UWL to a 45-31 lead. Hope College used a 12-3 run to close the gap resulting in 48-43 with 14:05 on the clock with a layup from Carter Bishop. By 10:14 the Flying Dutchmen trailed behind UWL as the Eagles lead 54-48 after a play from Orion Yant, but the Dutchmen would not get any closer the rest of the game. After back-to-back three-pointers from Devon Fielding UWL had a 60-48 lead and Jack Crowley’s three-pointer extended it to 63-48 with 6:20 left on the clock.
This win marked UWL’s first win in series history against Hope Michagan College. The Flying Dutchman had won the last two games they played against UWL. UWL is making their fifth appearance in the NCAA III Tournament, and last season they advanced to the NCAA Elite Eight for the first time in school history. As of this Friday’s victory the Eagles are now 5-4 all-time in the national championships.
UWL has wrapped up their second-round game in the NCAA Division III as of March 7, against Claremont-Mudd-Scripps Colleges and will advance on to the Sweet 16 round. This advancement marks UWL’s second straight trip to the Sweet 16.
CMS was leading 10-9 with 15:09 on the clock then used a 7-0 run to extend their lead to 17-9 with 13:09 left in the first half. The Eagles responded later with a 10-0 run closing the gap with a three-pointer from Devon Fielding making the score 25-21. After a three-pointer from Sam Grieger the Eagles took the lead with 4:32 on the clock (28-25). Shortly after CMS cut the score once more to 28-27. By halftime the score was 36-32 after a three-pointer from UWL’s Jack Crowley and another three-pointer for CMS by Reid Jones.
For the rest of the game CMS would not get closer than 14 points, and the game ended with a score of 79-62. UWL is returning to action March 13th against the University of Mary Washington in Fredericksburg, Virginia.
