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“Keep the tradition going, guys.”
Kegler, a senior forward who had just played in his last home game, was talking about more than the Eagles’ 76-65 WIAC victory over UW-Stout on Saturday at Mitchell Hall. He wanted the 14 players on UW-L’s roster who still will have eligibility next year not to be afraid to aim high.
This year’s 11-13, 6-9 record notwithstanding, Kegler and senior guards Chris Fehrenbach and Joe Webb have seen some good times at UW-L. Fehrenbach and Kegler played on the Eagles’ NCAA Division III Tournament-qualifying team in as sophomores in 2006. Fehrenbach, Kegler and Webb were part of last year’s UW-L team that went 19-8, 12-4 and finished second in the WIAC.
The Eagles, who are in fifth place heading into Wednesday’s regular-season finale at UW-Stevens Point, will have to win three road games in order to earn the conference’s automatic bid to the Division III Tournament. But if that doesn’t happen, UW-L freshman guard Tony Mane believes the Eagles are capable of doing good things next year, and beyond.
“Fehrenbach, Kegler and Webb are great leaders. ... We owe it to the seniors to battle hard and that’s what we did,” said Mane, who scored a game-high 26 points.
“We’ve got good young players, and hopefully coach (UW-L coach Ken Koelbl) has got some good recruits coming in to help us. ... We want to keep La Crosse basketball tradition going.”
Fehrenbach and Kegler did what Koelbl has expected them to do. Fehrenbach, UW-L’s career leader in 3-pointers with 212, scored 10 points. Kegler went 4-for-7 from the floor, 3-for-3 from the free-throw line and finished with 11 points.
But Koelbl also could be pleased with a group of players he likely will get to work with again next season.
Mane, UW-L’s leading scorer at 16.6 ppg, was 8-for-14 from the floor, including 5-for-9 from beyond the 3-point arc. Sophomore reserve guard Austin Scott, perhaps Fehrenbach’s heir apparent, was 4-for-5 from 3-point range and finished with 12 points. And sophomore forward Andrew Haass added 11 points.
All of them working together were the difference in UW-L’s victory over the Blue Devils (5-18, 2-12).
“We’ve certainly got capable players in our program. Their ability to step up is really a credit to them,” Koelbl said. “We’ve made big strides individually with our guys. We need to continue to have that to make any kind of run late in the year.”
