The UW-River Falls Falcons battled UW-Whitewater at home this afternoon and fell 67-63 in their first WIAC loss of the season. 

Grant Erickson filled the stat sheet in the loss with 14 points, six assists and five rebounds while Garret Pearson came of the bench drilling three from behind the arc and finished with 14 points of his own. 

The first half started out low scoring in a defensive battle. Pearson hit his first three of the game with 16:29 to go in the first half to give the Falcons a 5-2 lead. CJ Lewis came off the bench to score nine first half points including a three with 5:42 left in the first half to give UWRF a 17-9 lead. 

The Warhawks closed the gap with some big shots late in the half to make it 24-23 in favor of the Falcons going into halftime. The back and fort action continued early on in the second half. UWW took a six point with 7:23 left in the half but UWRF would not go away as Pearson hit another big three to cut it within three points with 6:43 left. The Warhawks pulled out to a seven point lead with 5:14 to go but an Eli Rocket lay-up, a Pearson free throw and two Erickson free throws made it 57-55 with 3:05 left to go. 

UWW went on another small run towards the end of the half and with 1:21 left to go led 63-55. Despite two late Jon Christensen three pointers, the Falcons could not comeback and dropped the game to the 9-2 Warhawks. 

UWRF shot 24-65 (36.9%) in the game but only shot 8-16 (50%) from the free throw line. Rocket lead the team in rebounding with eight while Jack Herum grabbed seven boards. 

The Falcons drop to 5-8 overall on the season and 3-1 in the WIAC. They will play again Wednesday evening at UW-Oshkosh with tip off set for 7 p.m. 

Box Score