RIVER FALLS, Wis. (uwrfsports.com) - The Falcons lost a back-and-forth game against Johnson & Wales University in Colorado Springs on Friday night. After trailing 44-30 in the opening minutes of the second half, UW-River Falls bounced back to go up 58-52 after layups from Clay Seifert and Alex Ohde. The 28-8 run helped propel the Falcons to their biggest lead of the game, but it wasn't enough to overcome the Wildcats and their late-game shooting that gave them an 85-81 victory over UWRF.

Austin Heidecker led the Falcons with 20 points and 14 rebounds on only 10 shot attempts. Julian Jackson also shot an effecient 8-13 from the field for 19 points and added 8 rebounds. The Falcons were held back by only going 2-16 from beyond the arc, with Matt Keller making 2-5. Andrew Romero hit a three pointer and a free throw to cut the deficit to only two points, and he hit another three pointer with five minutes remaining to retake the lead at 65-63. The Wildcats quickly went up by eight points after a three pointer from Jontrell Herman gave them a 74-66 lead, and the Falcons weren't able to cut the lead within five points until Seifert's jump shot as time expired. 

UWRF stepped up their game to shoot an impressive 53 percent overall in the second half, but they could only manage a 1-9 mark on three pointers. Johnson & Wales was 42 percent on three pointers and committed eight fewer turnovers than the Falcons overall. Herman had 34 points on 5-6 shooting from beyond the arc, including 4 steals, 4 assists and 8 rebounds. Romero was 9-10 from the line and outscored any UWRF player by posting 24 points. However, the Falcons dominated the boards by outrebounding the Wildcats 46-33.

The Falcons are now 1-1 with the loss and will play Colorado College at 7 p.m. in their final game of the Colorado College Classic on Saturday.