Hannigan Hits Overtime Winner in UW-River Falls Victory over UW-L

For Immediate Release: Wednesday, Feb. 11, 2009

La Crosse, Wis. – Brady Hannigan rebounded a missed shot and scored on a jumper with :02 left in overtime to give the UW-River Falls men's basketball team an 85-83 victory over UW-La Crosse Wednesday night in Mitchell Hall. The Falcons improve to 10-12 overall and 4-9 in the WIAC while the Eagles fall to 9-14 overall and 3-11 in the league. It is UW-L's seventh loss by six points or less this season.

The Eagles forced overtime on Tony Mane's three-pointer with :02.7 remaining at 75-75. The contest was tied three times in the extra session, including 81-81 with 1:13 left after UW-L's Andy Merklein scored on a putback. Wade Guerin hit a field goal for a two-point UW-River Falls lead with :55 remaining, but Trevor Stratton tied it at 83-83 on a pair of free throws with :42 left. After a Falcons' timeout. Hannigan grabbed the offensive rebound off a miss from Aaron Anderson and scored the eventual game-winning jumper. After UW-L's final timeout, Stratton missed from just over halfcourt as he hit the front of the rim on the three-point attempt.

Each team led by as many as five points in the first half before it was tied 34-34 at intermission. The game was tied 48-48 with 12:52 remaining when the Falcons went on a 9-0 run to lead 57-48 after a Danny Johnson three-point field goal. UW-River Falls led 71-66 with 1:16 left and 73-68 with :36 remaining, but UW-L's Kurt Kincaid cut the lead to 73-71 with :29 left on a three-pointer. After an offensive foul on Guerin, Stratton hit one-of-two free throws with :11 left to cut the lead to 73-72. Jake Voeltz hit two free throws with :10 left to give UW-River Falls a 75-72 lead, but Mane forced overtime with his three-pointer.

Mane (29) and Stratton (24) combined for 53 points. Mane was 12-of-29 from the field, including two-of-six from three-point range, and three-of-three at the line. Stratton was seven-of-15 from the field, including two-of-six from three-point range, and eight-of-nine at the line. Kincaid finished with 15 points and a team-high nine rebounds off the bench.

UW-L shot 41.3% from the field, including 33.3% (five-of-15) from three-point range. The Eagles were 16-of-20 (80.0%) at the free throw line. UW-L finished with a school record 11 blocks in the contest, including four from Al Chery and three from Matt DeMars.

All five UW-River Falls starters scored in double figures as Jontae Koonkaew and Voeltz had a team-high 18 points. Anderson finished with 16 points while Hannigan had 13 and Geurin 10. Hannigan also had a team-high nine rebounds. The Falcons shot 43.5% from the field, including 53.8% (seven-of-13) from three-point range. The team was 18-of-22 (81.8%) at the free throw line.

UW-L returns to action Saturday, Feb. 14 at UW-Stout at 3 p.m.