La Crosse, Wis. - The Viterbo University men's basketball team used a hot shooting performance to help propel them into the championship of the Pepsi Invitational with a 84-58 win over Silver Lake College.

With the game tied at seven early on, Viterbo took the lead with three straight three-pointers by the Ambrose brothers (Eric and Ryan). After Silver Lake cut their deficit to four (18-14), Viterbo would go on a 27-3 run to break open the contest and take its largest lead of the half at 45-21 with 3:04 remaining in the first half. Eric Ambrose (Sr. - Twin Lakes, Wis.) scored 11 of his 15 points to help spark the run for the V-Hawks. Viterbo would not score the rest of the first half as Silver Lake trailed 45-33 at the break.

Viterbo would then extend their lead back to 65-44 on the fourth three-pointer of the game by Ryan Ambrose (Sr./Jr. - Twin Lakes, Wis.). The Lakers of Silver Lake College would not be able to fully recover as they got no closer than 18 the rest of the way. Viterbo's largest lead in the contest came 81-54 with 4:03 remaining.

Senior Scott Buschman (Naperville, Ill.) joined the Ambrose brothers in double figures as he finished with a game high 19 points. Ryan Ambrose finished with 13 points on 4-8 shooting from the three-point line. Buschman also grabbed a game high nine rebounds for the V-Hawks. Josiah Elkins led the Lakers with 14 points and a team high 7 rebounds.

For the game, the V-Hawks finished 34-63 (54%) from the floor and had a 50-39 advantage on the boards. As hot as the V-Hawks were from the floor they were not as successful from the free throw line as they were just 9-18 (50%) from the charity strip. The V-Hawk defense held the Lakers to 19-69 (27.5%) shooting and forced 18 turnovers.

The win snaps a three game losing streak for the V-Hawks as they improve to 2-3 on the season. Silver Lake College falls to 0-5 on the year. Viterbo will play Bemidji State University in the Championship game on Saturday at 4:00 pm. The Beavers of Bemidji State advanced to face the V-Hawks by defeating College of the Ozarks 60-54 in the first game of the tournament. College of the Ozarks and Silver Lake College will play in the Third Place Game at 2:00 pm on Saturday.