V-Hawks Upset Mayville on Senior Night

LA CROSSE, Wis. – The Viterbo University Men's Basketball team defeated NSAA leading Mayville State University (ND), 76-73, in their regular season finale on Friday night. The V-Hawks improve to 12-15 (6-6 NSAA) on the year, while the Comets fall to 19-7 (7-4 NSAA).

Monis scored four of the first six points for Viterbo, then Colin Adams converted an and-one dunk to bring the score to 9-7 early. Monis recorded a steal and another jumper, followed by a Ben Olson jumper for the 15-10 lead. After a Garret Locy steal, Cole Crubel hit a three, and an Adams three put Viterbo up 11. Back-to-back threes from Crubel and Locy gave Viterbo the 41-25 lead, and one more Crubel jumper left it at 45-30 going into halftime.

Monis scored Viterbos first five points out of the break, and despite buckets from the Comets, Crubel and Dakota Mannel helped keep Viterbo in a commanding lead. Stefan Popovic hit a corner three, and two free throws by Mannel brought the score to 65-51 with 6:54 left. An 8-0 run from MSU began to chip away at the lead, and the V-Hawks missed some free throws to help Mayville close the score to 73-71 with :30 seconds left. Mannel hit three of four from the line, and while MSU had a shot at the buzzer to tie the game, it was no good and Viterbo claimed victory, 76-73.

Crubel had 17 points for the V-Hawks, while Monis added 16, and Crubel had 10 points with 12 rebounds. Darren Jones had 20 points for Mayville.

Viterbo outshot Mayville from the floor, 52% - 40.6%, and from three 46.7% - 23.1%. The Comets grabbed more rebounds, 36-30, and committed less turnovers, 15-14.

The V-Hawks will play a first-round NSAA Conference Tournament game on Wednesday, February 21, with the time, location, and opponent TBD.