The No. 17 Falcons avoided a scare by the Hamline Pipers to improve to 9-2 on the season by winning a 81-74 decision at the Karges Center Tuesday night.  Jontae Koonkaew (Apple Valley, MN, Apple Valley HS) lead all scores with a career-high 29 points.

Hamline opened the game on an 14-4 run to take 10 point lead.  The Falcons wouldn't be held down for long as they responded by scoring 27 of the next 34.  Koonkaew had 15 during that 10 minute span.

The Pipers were able to pull it back within four by the half.

Both teams battled hard in the second half with a total of 10 ties. The Falcons took the lead with 3:41 to go on a three by Koonkaew. UWRF held the lead until the final buzzer. 

Over the next three and a half minutes River Falls went 10-12 from the line to put the game on ice.

There were a ton of free throws in the second half.  The Falcons shot 20 and Hamline shot 22. 

Koonkaew continued to have success coming off the bench with his second straight game of 18 or more. Shane Manor (Altoona, UW-Superior) added 18 and Jake Voeltz (River Falls, River Falls HS) finished with 11.

Carl Hipp lead the Pipers with 22 on 6-11 shooting and 10-10 from the line. He also had 14 rebounds and 6 blocks.

UWRF goes to 9-2 overall and are ranked 17th in the D3Hoops.com Poll that was released earlier Tuesday morning. River Falls will take about two weeks off for the holidays before resuming action on Wednesday, Dec. 29th against Macalester College at the Karges Center, a 7 p.m. tip.

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