UW-L Falls at Ninth-Ranked UW-Whitewater

For Immediate Release: Wednesday, January 7, 2009

Whitewater, Wis. – The UW-La Crosse men’s basketball team fell 92-86 at ninth-ranked UW-Whitewater Wednesday night in Kachel Gym in the Williams Center. The Eagles fall to 7-6 overall and 1-3 in the WIAC while the Warhawks improve to 12-2 overall and 4-1 in the league. UW-Whitewater is ranked ninth on D3hoops.com Top-25 Poll.

The Warhawks trailed 11-10 with 14:24 left in the first half when they went on a 8-0 run. UW-Whitewater led by as many as nine at 27-18 before UW-L cut the margin to 32-31 with 3:47 remaining on an Al Chery layup. Chery tied the game at 35-35 with 2:37 on a layup and the Eagles took a 38-35 lead on Trevor Stratton's three-point play. UW-Whitewater came back to take a 43-40 halftime lead.

The Warhawks scored the first seven points of the second half to lead 50-40 and later led 57-47 with 15:43 remaining. The Eagles went on a 15-5 run to force a 62-62 tie with 11:29 left after a Andy Merklein layup. Stratton later hit a three-pointer to cut UW-Whitewater's lead to 76-75 with 5:35 remaining, but the Warhawks went on a 8-2 run and the Eagles could get no closer than five points in the final 1:23.

Stratton led UW-L with a career-high 27 points, finishing eight-of-15 from the field, including two-of-five from three-point range. He was nine-of-10 at the free throw line and also grabbed seven rebounds. Merklein finished with a career-high 24 points and team-high nine rebounds. He was 12-of-13 from the field, but missed all four of his free throw attempts. Tony Mane added 16 points and five assists while Chery had 10 points.

UW-L shot 45.8% from the field, including 28.6% (four-of-14) from three-point range. The Eagles were 16-of-23 (69.6%) at the line.

Kori Vernon led UW-Whitewater with 27 points and 14 rebounds. He was 10-of-14 from the field and seven-of-eight at the free throw line. Myles McKay finished with 23 points while Matt Goodwin had 20 and Tyson Kingsby 11. The Warhawks shot 50.9% from the field, including 35.7% (five-of-14) from three-point range. UW-Whitewater was 31-of-41 (75.6%) at the free throw line.

UW-L returns to action Saturday, January 10 hosting UW-Stout at 3 p.m.