Falcon men win big twice

• UWRF's senior Shane Manor

Bob Burrows photo

Talk about it

The UW-River Falls men’s basketball team’s average margin of victory in its two home wins last week was 26.5 points as it improved to 8-2 overall and stayed tied with UW-Stevens Point atop the WIAC standings.

The Falcons defeated UW-Stout, 72-52, last Wednesday to improve to 3-0 in WIAC play before routing North Central, 98-65, in a nonconference game Saturday.

Last Wednesday against Stout, senior Wade Guerin had 17 points and senior Shane Manor and junior Ollie White both had 14 as the Falcons jumped out to a 37-25 halftime lead and never looked back.

With 10:20 to play in the second half, Manor got a nice feed from senior Brian Kimble and laid down a beautiful dunk to put the Falcons up by 18. Two minutes later with 8:13 to play Guerin slammed a dunk of his own to give the Falcons a 19-point lead.

Kimble contributed six assists and four steals in the victory.

Saturday night, junior Chris Palmer scored 16 of his game-high 20 points in the first half to help the Falcons build a 54-33 lead over North Central on their way to a 98-65 victory.

Junior Zach Peterson contributed a career-high 15 points to help UWRF to its largest margin of victory this season.

Manor was just shy of a triple-double with 12 points, nine rebounds and eight assists while also coming up with four blocked shots.

White added 11 points as all 17 Falcon players saw action in the game and 14 recorded at least one point.

The Falcons hit the road for a pair of games beginning Thursday, Dec. 29, in St. Paul against Macalester College. They travel to South Dakota New Year’s Eve to take on the University of Sioux Falls before returning home to host 25th-ranked Stevens Point in an early-season battle for first place in the WIAC on Wednesday, Jan. 4, at 7 p.m.

Tags: sports, falcons, proam, basketball