News Release

La Crosse, Wis. — Joe Werner hit a 12-foot jumper as time expired to give UW-La Crosse a 57-55 victory over UW-River Falls Wednesday night in Mitchell Hall. Werner scored UW-L's last five points of the game and seven of last eight as the Eagles improved to 14-3 overall and 5-3 in the WIAC. The Falcons fall to 3-13 overall and 2-6 in the conference.

UW-L led by as many as 11 in the second half at 39-28 with 17:30 remaining before UW-River Falls went on a 21-10 run to tie the game at 49-49 with 7:57 left. The Falcons then scored the next six points to take a 55-49 lead with 3:36 remaining, but were held without a point the rest of the game.

Werner cut the lead to 55-51 on a lay-up and Chris Ask made it 55-52 on a free throw with 2:04 left. Werner then tied the game on a three-point play with 1:09 remaining. Ask blocked Hans Hoeg's jumper with :40 remaining and forced a UW-River Falls timeout after a jump ball. The Falcons then turned the ball over on a shot clock violation.

After a pair of UW-L timeouts, Ask drove the lane and passed to Werner, who's game-winning shot bounced two times on the rim before falling as the horn sounded.

Ask led UW-L with 14 points while Marcus Conigliaro and Joe Bemis each scored 11. Bemis also had a game-high nine rebounds. Werner finished with nine points (all in the second half) and seven rebounds.

UW-L shot 39.7% from the field, including 58.3% (seven-of-12) from three-point range. The Eagles were six-of-seven (85.7%) from three-point range in the first half. The Eagles were four-of-10 (40.0%) at the free throw line.

Hoeg led UW-River Falls with 19 points and six rebounds. He was eight-of-13 from the field, including three-of-four from three-point range. Ryan Zylstra added 14 points and six rebounds for the Falcons while Erik Olson had 10 points and five rebounds.

UW-River Falls shot 45.3% from the field, including 53.8% (14-of-26) in the second half. The Falcons were seven-of-12 (58.3%) from three-point range in the game and missed their only free throw attempt.