WHEATON, Ill. – The Fightin' Engineers had a tough task ahead of them, as they went up against #7 Wisconsin-La Crosse in the opening round of the Wheaton Tournament. Rose-Hulman fought hard against the reigning Elite Eight opponent, but the Eagles prevailed by a score of 84-73.
 
Reigning HCAC Player of the Week, sophomore Joey Schmitz got off to a hot start as he knocked down a corner three-pointer and followed that up with a pull-up three from the top of the key.
 
The Eagles also thrived early in the match, opening the game on 7-9 shooting from the floor. They also converted all three of their shots from beyond the arc to take a 21-10 lead.
 
Schmitz responded with a layup, and freshman Evan Gentile added a corner three of his own halfway through the half. Following an offensive rebound from junior Christian Torres, Gentile swished another shot from beyond the arc, which cut the lead to 25-20.
 
Wisconsin-La Crosse added a pair of three pointers before a steal from junior Daniel Savovic led to a Torres fastbreak layup.
 
With three minutes left in the half, freshman Will McElheney hauled in an offensive rebound and scored on a hook shot. Savovic added a contested layup, and he hit a three-pointer right before the buzzer sounded, which helped make it a 42-31 game at the half.
 
Both teams traded three-point buckets to start the second half as Schmitz scored on a corner three. McElheney scored on another hook shot, and a steal from freshman Nate Smith led to a fastbreak layup from Schmitz to cut the deficit to 51-40.
 
McElheney continued to dominate in the paint, as he scored an and-one basket at the 15-minute mark. Junior Cole Pride would knock down multiple three-pointers shortly afterwards, which made it a 57-51 game.
 
Schmitz scored on a heavily contested three-pointer from the elbow, but the Eagles would answer with a three-pointer of their own. McElheney added a hook shot on the following possession, before Wisconsin-La Crosse converted another three-point shot.
 
Savovic recorded a pull-up midrange jumper at the nine-minute mark, and senior Kobe Stoudemire and Torres each converted a pair of free throws to make it a six-point game.
 
The Eagles were able to extend the lead to 79-68 with 2:30 remaining, as they knocked down consecutive three-pointers. Stoudemire responded with a shot from beyond the arc, before UW-La Crosse would record their third straight three-pointer, which secured the 84-73 win.
 
Joey Schmitz scored a game-high 22 points, shooting 8-12 from the floor and 4-7 from three-point range. He added three rebounds, three assists, and two steals.
 
Will McElheney recorded 12 points on 5-7 shooting with six rebounds and two assists.
 
Daniel Savovic put up 11 points on 5-11 shooting from the floor. He led the team with five assists, while recording three rebounds and one steal.
 
Cole Pride had a near double-double, as he scored nine points with ten rebounds, while blocking two shots.
 
Rose-Hulman will play in the third-place game of the Wheaton Tournament against either St. Scholastica or Wheaton on Saturday, November 22, at 6 PM ET (5 PM CT).