RIVER FALLS, Wis. – The No. 2 seeded UW-River Falls men's basketball team won 82-79 against No. 4 seed UW-Stevens Point Thursday night during a WIAC Tournament Semifinal matchup at Page Arena.
The Falcons, now 15-11 overall, advance to the WIAC Tournament Championship at No. 1 seed UW-Platteville Saturday evening.
UWRF and UWSP combined for 45 personal fouls, leading to a season-high 25 made free throws, led by five each by
Noah Hanson and
Jack Leifker. Hanson led the Falcons with 23 points off 8-of-11 shooting from the field while a collective scoring effort paced the home team with 10 Falcons in the scoring column.
The Falcons opened the game on an 8-0 run, including two triples in a row from Hanson. UWRF led by as many as 13 late in the first half after a three-pointer from
Logan Benson, leading to a 41-31 halftime lead.
Despite UWRF shooting over 70 percent from the field in the second half, the Pointers made 6-of-15 three-pointers and outscored the Falcons 48-41 in the final 20 minutes to make things interesting. UWSP cut the Falcon lead to just three points on several occasions, and had a chance to tie up the game late but came up short.
UWRF held a 28-26 edge in rebounds and UWSP led 30-26 in the paint.
Zac Johnson and
Marshall Holland shared the team lead with six rebounds each, while Holland and
Logan Jedwabny had three steals each.
The Falcons will be making their first WIAC Tournament Championship since 2018. Saturday's tip-off is set for 7 p.m. at Williams Fieldhouse.
