Falcons keep pace in WIAC

• Senior Wade Guerin

UW-River Falls’ senior Wade Guerin follows through on a hook shot in the lane for two of his 13 points in the Falcons’ 61-53 victory over UW-Platteville Saturday at Karges Center. Bob Burrows photo.

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UW-River Falls’ senior Shane Manor continued to make his case for All-American and the Falcons men’s basketball team remained tied for first place in the WIAC as Manor led the team to victories over UW-Stout and UW-Platteville last week.

Manor scored a team-high 18 points in both wins, adding ten rebounds to his stat line in the Falcons’ 72-50 victory at Stout last Wednesday and hitting 8-of-12 shots from the field in UWRF’s 61-53 home victory Saturday over Platteville.

Manor has scored 12 or more points in all 20 games this season and is averaging just over 18 points, third-best in the WIAC.

More importantly, the Falcons remain tied with UW-Whitewater and UW-Stevens Point atop the WIAC standings, all at 9-2. UWRF, now 15-5 overall, travels to UW-Eau Claire (5-6, 13-7) this Saturday, Feb. 4, and returns home to host UW-Superior (5-6, 11-9) Wednesday, Feb. 8, at 7 p.m.

The Yellowjackets handed the Falcons one of their conference losses, 85-82, Jan. 18, in Superior. UWRF’s other WIAC loss was an 84-70 setback at Whitewater Jan. 7. The Falcons and Warhawks will face each other again in the final game of the regular season, Saturday, Feb. 18, at 5 p.m. at Karges Center.

Last Saturday the Falcons had a hard time shaking Platteville until Manor hit a layup to give UWRF the lead for good, 46-44.

The Falcons led by nine at the break and were up 42-31 early in the second half before an 8-0 Pioneer run cut the lead to three.

UWRF led by just two, 55-53, with 58 seconds remaining but the Falcon defense held Platteville scoreless the rest of the way while converting 4-of-4 free throws down the stretch.

The Falcons dominated at the free throw line, converting 13-of-17 chances while holding Platteville (5-6, 11-9) to just four attempts, all misses.

Wade Guerin contributed 13 points in the win while Ollie White added nine points and a team-high, six rebounds. Aaron Anderson also scored nine points as the falcons improved to 6-0 at home.

Last Wednesday at Stout, Manor had 18 points and 10 rebounds and Colin Utke had 15 points off the bench as the Falcons cruised to a 72-50 victory. Brian Kimble added 13 points and eight assists while White finished with 11 points and six rebounds.

Tags: sports, proam, falcons, basketball