Box Score
Box score
MILWAUKEE - The Wisconsin Lutheran College
men's basketball team fell victim to a late first-half run that
proved to be too much as it fell to Edgewood 82-66 Wednesday night
at the Recreation Complex.
The Warriors and Eagles played a tight opening 15-plus minutes
as WLC found itself down 30-26 with 4:46 remaining in the half.
That first 15:14 featured four ties and just one lead change as WLC
was either tied or in front for the first 13:30 of the contest.
However, Edgewood (11-3, 5-1 NAC) closed out the half on a 12-3 run
that gave the visitors a 42-29 advantage going into halftime.
Points in the paint proved to be a big difference in the first
20 minutes of play as the Eagles outscored WLC, 20-6. Edgewood shot
an impressive 81.8 percent (18-for-22) in the first half, while the
Warriors chimed in at 35.7 percent (10-for-28).
Alex Merbach (Kaukauna, Wis./Fox Valley Lutheran) led Wisconsin
Lutheran with seven points in the opening half and Russell Strutz
(Sturtevant, Wis./Shoreland Lutheran) chipped in with six points.
The Eagles' Cashton Craig led all scorers at the break with 14
points as he shot a perfect 6-for-6 from the field.
The Warriors came out of the locker room and quickly cut the
Edgewood lead to nine points at 47-38 with 17:07 to play. That
would be as close as WLC would get as the Eagles led by
double-digits the rest of the contest. Their largest lead of the
night was 20 points, occurring on a couple different occasions.
Wisconsin Lutheran found itself scoring in the paint more in the
second half as it scored 18 points in the lane compared to 24 for
the Eagles. Edgewood finished the game shooting 66 percent
(33-for-50) from the floor, while WLC made 42.4 percent (25-for-59)
of its shots, including 48.4 percent (15-for-31) in the second
half. The Eagles also won the rebounding battle, 33-22.
Merbach finished with 15 points to bring his career total to 879
points as he continues to close in on 1,000 career points. Strutz
added 14 points and senior Eric Reed (Fond du Lac, Wis./Winnebago
Lutheran) came off the bench to score 10.
Craig led the Eagles with 19 points and Justin Williams added 15
for the visitors. Williams and Merbach tied for a game-high seven
rebounds.
The Warriors (2-12, 1-5 NAC) return to action next Tuesday when
they host Marian (3-11, 0-6 NAC) at 7 p.m. at the Recreation
Complex. Fans unable to attend the game can follow the action via
live audio, stats and video at wlcsports.com.
