RIVER FALLS, Wis. - The UW-River Falls men's basketball team earned its first win of the season during its home opener, defeating Gustavus Adolphus College 62-60 Wednesday evening at Page Arena.

The Falcons and Gusties exchanged seven leads, leading to a tie game at 60-60 with under a minute left in regulation. A Zac Johnson layup with under 30 seconds remaining stood as the game-winning basket as Gustavus missed a pair of free throws late with a chance to tie the contest. 

UWRF was led by sophomore Jacob Butler, who recorded a career-high 22 points off 8-of-11 shooting from the field with a trio of made three-pointers. Jack Leifker recorded a double-double with 11 points and 10 rebounds while Will Van Scoy tied a career-high with five assists.

Despite the Falcons low shooting numbers in the first half, they forced seven Gustie turnovers which led to 10 points. A three-point play from Butler gave UWRF a 15-6 lead just over six minutes into the game, and the home team led until Gustavus took its first lead of the night at 23-22 with 3:46 left, and led by one at halftime.

Butler scored 17 points in the second half while the team's shooting numbers improved, shooting nearly 50 percent at 15-of-31 from the field. UWRF led by as many as 11 with a Butler fastbreak layup with 7:37 left in regulation before the Gusties answered with a 12-2 run to trim the Falcon lead to 55-43 with just under four minutes left in the game. Butler responded with a clutch three-pointer to put UWRF up by four and the Falcons led or tied in the final minutes.

The Falcons, now 1-2 overall, return to action on Saturday, traveling to Saint Mary's University.
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