It’s starting to come together, especially at Mitchell Hall.
The University of Wisconsin-La Crosse men’s basketball team improved to 8-0 at Mitchell Hall this season, after a 60-52 win against UW-Stevens Point.
It’s the first time the Eagles have swept UW-SP since the 1994-95.
Terek Nesheim scored 10 of his 12 points in the second half, where the 25th-ranked Eagles (15-5 overall, 8-1 WIAC) pulled away. They outscored the No. 20 Pointers (13-6, 5-6) 37-23 after the break.
The game went as UW-L coach Kent Dernbach expected — a grind-it-out contest where every basket is tough to come by.
“It wasn’t going to be a pretty offensive basketball game,” Dernbach said. “When you thing, there’s 450 schools out there and you have the No. 1 and No. 4 teams going at it, it’s not going to be pretty.”
The Pointers led 27-23 at halftime, after shooting 12 of 26 from the field, while the Eagles were 10 of 25. Of UW-SP’s 14 first-half misses, they got 10 of those back on offensive rebounds.
Dernbach made that a point of emphasis at halftime — limit the second chance points. So, his team did, by limiting those opportunities to zero.
The Pointers didn’t get an offensive rebound in the second half, while the Eagles shooting came around a bit, going 14-for-26. They also got to the line and hit 9 of 12 free throws. UW-L got to the line twice in the first half.
Ben Meinholz scored 15 to lead UW-L, which faces UW-Platteville (12-7, 5-3) at 5 p.m. Saturday at Mitchell Hall.
WOMEN’S BASKETBALL
UW-La Crosse 75, UW-Stevens Point 53
STEVENS POINT, Wis. — Onalaska native Emma Gamoke scored 19, while teammate Dani Craig added 16 in leading UW-L to its first sweep of UW-SP since 2014-15.
The Eagles (17-3, 6-3) led 38-20 at halftime and opened the second half on a 14-0 run to all but end it.
They shot 30 of 54 from the field and 5 of 11 from deep for the game, while holding the Pointers (7-13, 3-6) to 30.8-percent shooting.
