By Rick Solem
For the first time in 11 tries, the Viterbo University men’s basketball team took down crosstown rival, UW-La Crosse.
The V-Hawks got a big second half from super sophomore David Shepard in coming back to beat the Eagles 56-52 in front of 620 fans at Mitchell Hall on Tuesday night. UW-L now leads the all-time series 16-10.
Shepard had 12 points and nine rebounds in the second half alone. He finished with 17 points – going 3-for-3 from beyond the arc – 15 rebounds, two steals, two assists, a block and just one turnover.
Viterbo played catchup in both halves. Down 21-11 late in the first half, the V-Hawks (4-4) went on an 11-2 run, but still ended up down 25-24 at halftime.
In the second half, UW-L (2-2) went up 45-38 on a Kenny Finco jumper, before another Viterbo comeback. Shepard and Jake Bamke played a big part – five points each – in a V-Hawks 12-0 run, and UW-L never led again.
A layup by Finco and a 3-pointer from Cale Zuiker pulled UW-L within two with 4:08 to play. Viterbo’s Alex Diciaula answered with a jumper of his own, before another Zuiker 3 pulled the Eagles within two again (54-52) with 2:27 to play before the defenses stepped up.
In those final minutes, the only points scored were from the free-throw line with 2 seconds remaining. Between Zuiker’s last 3-pointer and those free throws, the teams combined to go 0-for-6 – two of those shots blocked – with one Viterbo turnover (a steal by Connor De Bruin).
La Crosse couldn’t find the basket on its home court, going just 20-for-60 from the field (33%) and 6 of 27 from beyond the arc (22%). The Eagles did outrebound Viterbo 36-31 and 16-7 on the offensive end, but only won the second-chance-points battle 8-4.
Bamke finished with 12 points on 5-of-8 shooting for the V-Hawks, who shot just 41 percent (19-46), but did go 9-for-18 from beyond the arc – two of those from Bamke. Of Viterbo’s 19 field goals, 13 were assisted. Viterbo also had 13 turnovers to UW-L’s nine.
Zuiker finished with 22 points on 8-for-18 shooting – 3 of 10 from deep – but nobody else finished in double figures, and the Eagles had just nine assists on their 20 field goals.