WAVERLY, Iowa – Wartburg men's basketball suffered its first loss of the season on Saturday, Nov. 27 with a hard-fought 83-78 loss to undefeated #15 Wisconsin-La Crosse.
Both teams traded baskets to start the game and after five minutes Wartburg had a 12-6 lead over the Eagles. UW-La Crosse answered with a nine to two run to take a 15-14 lead with over 12 minutes in the half.
Back-and-forth scoring led to a 25-24 Wartburg lead with under six minutes left in the half, but Wartburg would pull away thanks to two
Cade Daugherty three pointers and another three from
Davis Roquet to make the score 38-28. The Knights would grow the lead to 13 points before halftime, but late free throws from the Eagles made the score 43-32 at halftime.
In the second half, it was more back-and-forth scoring throughout the first 8 minutes. The Knights would grow the lead to 17 points at its highest point, but the Eagles would continue to answer. With over eight minutes to play, UW-La Crosse cut the Wartburg lead to 10 points after back-to-back baskets.
Henry Noone hit on a four-point play for the Eagles to cut the lead down to four and then following a turnover hit another three to cut the lead down to one. While the shot was in the air,
Drew Olson was called for his fifth foul, away from the ball, to give the Eagles one and one free throw attempts. Both free throws were made, making the score 67-66 UW-La Crosse.
The Knights would tie the game at 72-72, but the Eagles made late free throws to hold off a late Wartburg run.
The loss brings Wartburg's record to 5-1 overall an 1-0 in American Rivers Conference play.
Game Leaders
Jack Molstead led the Orange & Black in scoring today with 19 points. The junior guard shot 41.2% from the field along with 50% from three-point range. Molstead logged the most minutes tonight with 37 and added four rebounds and three assists in his time om the floor.
Olson was in foul trouble for a large portion of the game and led the team in assists with eight. The Osage, Iowa native recorded a team-high two steals on the defensive end and added five points and three rebounds before fouling out of the contest.
Wartburg had two players grab a team-leading six rebounds in today's game in
Keagan John as well as
Codey Hicks. John was three for three from the free throw line and added nine points along with the rebounds. Hicks scored 12 points off 6/10 shooting from the field along with his six rebouns.
Wartburg was outscored in bench points 37-25 and in points in the paint 38-36. The Eagles also had a slight edge in rebounds 36-35 over the Knights.
Next Time Out
Wartburg is in action next on Wednesday, Dec. 1 as it continues A-R-C play with a home game against Luther College set for a 7:30 p.m. tipoff.
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