UW-La Crosse Wins First Even Men’s Basketball Tournament Title

**UW-La Crosse Sports Information contributed to this recap

WHITEWATER, Wis.--University of Wisconsin-La Crosse won its first ever Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (WIAC) Men’s Basketball Tournament (presented by Culver’s) with an 81-78 victory over UW-Whitewater at Kachel Gymnasium on Feb. 28.

The Eagles (22-6) secured the conference’s automatic bid into the NCAA Division III championship in their fourth-ever appearance in the WIAC championship game.

UW-Whitewater (20-7) was in its conference-leading 12th championship game. UW-La Crosse took an 11-5 lead with 15:32 left in the first in the first half on a pair of Jack Crowley free throws, but the Warhawks used a 15-3 run to take a 20-13 lead with 9:10 remaining on Brock Marino's tip-in.

Luke Bara's three-pointer gave UW-Whitewater a 33-24 advantage with 5:14 left in the first half and a Collin Madson layup made it 35-28 with 3:59 remaining. UW-La Crosse ended the half on a 9-2 run to force a 37-37 tie on Devon Fielding’s tip-in at the first half buzzer.

After UW-La Crosse took a 55-52 lead with 12:33 left, UW-Whitewater went on a 13-4 run to take a 65-59 advantage with 9:07 remaining on Bara's layup.

The Warhawks later led, 73-67 with 3:57 left, but two free throws from Dustin Derousseau and a four straight points from Grieger tied the game with 2:03 remaining. Jake Quast's layup gave UW-Whitewater a 75-73 lead with 1:38 left. After JJ Paider converted one-of-two free throws for UW-La Crosse with 1:18 remaining to make it a one-point game, and after a Marino turnover, Jacob Butler’s layup with :59 left gave the Eagles a 76-75 lead.

After UW-La Crosse extended their lead to 79-75, Isaac Verges had a three-point play with :08 left to cut the deficit to one. Derousseau made one free throw for an 80-78 lead, but the rebound on the second attempt went out-of-bounds on UW-Whitewater. Grieger made one-of-two free throws with :04 remaining and Madson's three-point attempt at the buzzer missed.

Grieger led UW-La Crosse with 33 points, while adding six rebounds and three assists. Paider finished with 18 points, while Derousseau totaled 17 points, three rebounds and three assists.

Bara led UW-Whitewater with 14 points, while Madson and Verges each scored 13.

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