A 14 to 3 spurt midway through the first half led No. 25 UW-River Falls to a 68-57 win over host UW-Platteville in the WIAC opener for both teams on Saturday at Bo Ryan Court.

UW-River Falls (5-2, 1-0 WIAC) had three in double figures in the win as Shane Manor scored 13 points to lead the Falcons. He was joined in double figures by Chris Palmer, who had a double double with 12 points and 12 rebounds and Wade Guerin, who added 11. The Falcons shot 52.9% from the field and held UW-Platteville to 39% shooting.

UW-Platteville (5-2, 0-1 WIAC) was led by senior Brett Stangel, who had a game-high 25 points for his seventh-straight game in double figures for the Pioneers. Stangel made four of six 3-pointers on the evening. Junior Rob Stallion had eight points and six rebounds in the loss. UW-Platteville was victimized by a 26.7% (4-for-15) shooting effort from the free-throw line and held to just seven points compared to 21 by the Falcons in the loss.

When the Pioneers' Eric Gerber hit a layup with 7:54 to play, the basket cut the Falcons lead to 20-19 in the first half. UW-River Falls came back to score the 15 of the next 17 points en route to a 34-22 lead with 2:21 remaining in the first half.

The Pioneers would cut the lead to nine on a pair of occasions in the final 20 minutes but each momentum push was answered by the visitors for the remainder of the game.

Next, UW-Platteville will look to bounce back when they travel on Wednesday, Dec. 7 to face UW-Eau Claire at 7 p.m.