KENOSHA, Wis. – Down six with less than a minute to go, things looked bleak for the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse men’s basketball team.
But back-to-back turnovers by Aurora helped fuel a comeback capped off by a Ryan Kruser 3-pointer to tie it with 21 seconds remaining.
Aurora milked the clock down to 3 seconds when Gavin Walker – who had both turnovers – missed a layup. Kyle Pilmer was right there, however, for the putback at the buzzer to give the Spartans a 70-68 win at Cartage College Classic on Friday.
The Eagles play Carthage at 4 p.m. today.
Senior Skylar Cameron had a career high 23 points, including 5 of 12 from beyond the arc, to go with eight rebounds in leading the Eagles (1-1), who trailed by as many as 15 in the second half.
UW-L was only down 32-27 at halftime, before falling behind. Down 64-52 with 4:45 to go, the Eagles went on a 16-4 run, capped off by that Kruser 3-pointer.
UW-L shot just 37.1 percent, but Aurora (2-0) wasn’t much better at 41.8, including an abysmal 3-for-17 from beyond the arc.
That’s all that was needed, however, in a two-point game.
Cale Zuiker scored 19 on 7-of-16 shooting and grabbed nine rebounds. Teammate Kenny Finco added 11 off the bench for La Crosse.