RIPON, Wisconsin – The Ripon men's basketball program held its own against one of the premier programs in the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference, but the UW-La Crosse Eagles were too much on Tuesday night and defeated the Red Hawks 78-68 inside Weiske Gymnasium.
 
La Crosse (2-2) shot a scorching 51.7% from the field in the second half, limiting Ripon (1-4) to 37.5% shooting in the final 20 minutes en route to its second consecutive victory.
 
STANDOUT HAWKS

• Senior guard Cade Tackmier collected 13 hard-earned points, adding 3 rebounds and a pair of assists.
• Senior guard Dominic Galati netted 13 points off the bench, including three three-pointers, and chipped in 2 steals.
• Junior guard Luke Meinholz was in double figures for the fifth consecutive game, scoring 12 points and dishing out 8 assists while grabbing 5 rebounds.
• Junior forward Jayden Fitch performed well off the bench, scoring 12 points on 6 of 8 shooting. He also had 7 rebounds and 2 blocks.

PLAY-BY-PLAY
Cameron Ford scored the first two points of the game, but La Crosse went on an 11-0 run moments later to grab a 14-6 lead. The Eagles' lead grew to as many as 11 before Galati and Fitch went on a 7-0 spurt of their own to get Ripon back in it. However, La Crosse responded with seven consecutive points to command a 28-17 lead after an Austin Westra layup. With the Eagles leading 38-26, their biggest lead of the game, Connor Spielvogel canned a pair of triples and Tackmier added a layup at the buzzer to bring Ripon within four at 38-34 heading into intermission.
 
La Crosse held its steady lead in the opening minutes of the second half, going up 51-43 following a three by Westra with 14:04 left. Fitch hit a jumper with 8:55 remaining to put Ripon up 56-55, but Khris Green answered with a three moments later to put the Eagles ahead for good. Galati made a free throw to cut the deficit to three at 60-57 with 7:25 left, but the Red Hawks would get no closer the rest of the way. La Crosse scored its final seven points of the game at the free throw line, all with under a minute remaining, to close out the win.
 
KEY STATS

• Ripon got 34 points from its bench, while La Crosse only received 8.
• Ripon turned the Eagles over 17 times, but the Red Hawks committed 18 turnovers themselves.
• There were 45 total three-pointers attempted, as Ripon shot 9 of 22 (40.9%) and La Crosse went 7 of 23 (30.4%).
• Austin Westra had a game-high 29 points for La Crosse, shooting 11 of 15 from the field and hauling in 12 rebounds.

UP NEXT
Ripon stays home this weekend for a matchup against #2 UW-Whitewater inside Weiske Gymnasium at 3 p.m. on Saturday (November 25).
 
FOLLOW
Follow Ripon College Red Hawks Athletics on Facebook and @RiponRedHawks on Twitter for immediate updates, results and more. Go to riponredhawks.com for all information, releases and schedules.