GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. - The fifth-ranked Calvin University men's basketball team continued its unbeaten start in non-conference play with an 84-71 win over UW-La Crosse at Van Noord Arena on Saturday.

Calvin (6-0) did not trail in the final 34 minutes of action against UWLC (3-4), but battled foul trouble and turnovers at times as the Eagles fought to stay in the game.

The Knights took control of the game late in the first half, using a 13-0 run that started with 7:27 to play in the half to stretch a two-point lead into a 40-25 advantage on the way to taking a 47-35 lead into halftime.

Sophomore guard Luka Ressler (Caledonia, Mich./Catholic Central) came through for the Knights when they needed a boost offensively, scoring 15 points on 6-10 shooting while also dishing out five assists to lead the Calvin with Uchenna Egekeze (Huntley, Ill./Huntley) and Jalen Overway (Holland, Mich./Holland Christian) each battling foul trouble. 

The Knights started the second half slowly with four early turnovers, and UWLC responded with a run that cut the Calvin lead to eight points on several occasions.

With the Eagles concentrating efforts on swarming Overway in the post, Marcus Bult (Wheaton, Ill./Wheaton Academy) helped the Knights put the game away with 10 second-half points thanks to three big three-pointers over the final six minutes.

The Calvin offense committed 17 turnovers, including 11 live-ball turnovers that resulted in steals for the Eagles, but continued its strong start to the season on the defensive end by holding UWLC to 32.9 percent shooting from the field and 27.8 percent (5-18) from beyond the three-point arc.

Calvin shot 41.3 percent for the game and finished with four players in double figures, led by Ressler with 18 points on 7-13 shooting (4-9 from three-point range). 

Egekeze added 15 points to go with three blocks and five rebounds. Overway and Bult each finished with 14 points, with Bult also grabbing a career-high 12 rebounds for his second career double-double. 

COACH'S COMMENT: "Credit to La Crosse, I thought they played really hard today," Calvin head coach Bill Sall said. "They gave us a little bit of a different look defensively and we struggled with some of those adjustments. We've got to figure out a way to not turn the ball over. The beginning of the second half we defended really well but I think we had four of the first five possessions were turnovers so we've got a lot of things to clean up. But I thought Luka played really well today and I thought Bult hit some huge shots down the stretch, so that was really good to see. I'm glad we're 6-0 but we're still a work in progress. Still have a lot of things to figure out."
 
NEXT UP: Calvin men's basketball will return to action on Saturday, December 9, when it hosts Wheaton College (Ill.) in a game scheduled to tip off at 12:00 PM.