SUPERIOR, Wis. – The St. Olaf College men's basketball team had five scorers in double figures in an 80-74 loss to No. 18-ranked UW-La Crosse on the final day of the NBC Tip-Off Classic on Saturday afternoon at Mertz Mortorelli Gymnasium.
After a one-point loss to UW-Superior the night before, St. Olaf (0-2) led for over 17 minutes behind the balanced scoring attack, but UW-La Crosse (1-1) got a combined 56 points from Sam Grieger, last year's National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC) Player of the Year, and Jackson Hayes to hold off the Oles. The Eagles were ranked No. 18 in the D3hoops.com Preseason Men's Top 25.
Junior
AJ Uhl (19), sophomore
Cooper Carlson (17), junior
Luther Tostrud (13), senior
Chris Willis (12), and sophomore
Max Kraay (11) were all in double figures and combined for 72 of St. Olaf's 74 points. The Oles played seven of their eight available student-athletes.
Grieger led all scorers with 30 points, four rebounds, and eight assists while shooting 11-for-18 from the field and 8-for-12 at the free-throw line. Hayes put up 26 points on 9-for-20 shooting overall and 6-for-8 shooting at the charity stripe. The Eagles got to the free-throw line 26 times compared to 12 for the Oles.
St. Olaf shot 57.1 percent (16-for-28) from the field in the opening half and led for 17:26 while trailing for just 53 seconds, but UW-La Crosse rallied late in the half to take a 41-39 lead at the break. A 5-0 start for St. Olaf was the largest lead either way until a three-pointer by Willis followed by a layup by Uhl gave the Oles a 32-26 lead with 7:02 left in the half.
A little over two minutes later, buckets by Uhl and Kraay put St. Olaf ahead by eight, 36-28, for its largest lead of the game. The Eagles outscored the Oles by a 13-3 margin over the final four minutes of the half to take the two-point lead.
Grieger and Hayes combined for 34 of UW-La Crosse's 39 second-half points, as the Eagles never trailed in the final 20 minutes. A three-pointer by Willis with 15:20 to go got St. Olaf within a point at 50-49, but UW-La Crosse went on a 9-2 run to push its lead to eight.
Later, Carlson followed a Tostrud three-pointer with a jumper that tied the game at 69-69 with 5:56 remaining to force a timeout by the Eagles. UW-La Crosse went on a 6-0 run out of the stoppage and got five consecutive stops down the stretch to see out the win.
St. Olaf will face the third of four consecutive UW System schools with a trip to UW-Stevens Point on Wednesday, Nov. 11 for a 7 p.m. tip-off.
