La Crosse, Wis. - Three dunks, three technical fouls, and a lot of scrappy play. All of these ingredients were part of the equation which resulted in an 89-84 victory for the Viterbo University Men's Basketball team over the visiting Mustangs of Mount Mercy College. Along with the victory, Scott Buschman (Sr. - Naperville, Ill.) collected his NAIA leading 18^th double-double as he scored a season high 31 points and grabbed 12 rebounds.

Both the V-Hawks and the Mustangs got out to good starts shooting the ball as each team hit five first half three pointers. Eric Ambrose (Sr. - Twin Lakes, Wis.) and Ryan Ambrose (Sr. - Jr. - Twin Lakes, Wis) both connected on two three pointers as the V-Hawks got out to a 29-21 lead with 6:30 remaining in the half. Viterbo would maintain this lead up until halftime as they went into the locker room with a 38-31 advantage. Eric Ambrose scored 16 points in the first half while also pulling down five rebounds.

Mount Mercy stayed hot in the second half hitting six more three pointers while the V-Hawks went 0-3 from long range. The V-Hawks made up for the lack of outside shooting though as their inside game flourished in the second half as the team shot 17-31 (54.8%) including 40 points in the paint over the course of the game. The Mustangs opened the second half on a 13-8 run to pull within two points of the V-Hawks led by three pointers by Jake Carey and Marty Tope. Viterbo's intensity picked up from their as they went on their own 14-7 run giving them a 60-51 lead. The V-Hawks were able to handle the press applied by the Mustangs over the majority of the second half which led to some break away dunks by Buschman which sealed the victory for Viterbo.

The V-Hawks were led by Buschman's game-high 31 points and 12 rebounds. Having another solid overall game was Eric Ambrose who finished with a season high 27 points while grabbing seven rebounds and dishing out five assists. Mount Mercy had five players score in double figures with Keith Kuenstling leading the way with 17 points and nine rebounds.

Viterbo went on to shoot 29-64 (45.3%) from the field while the Mustangs went 30-63 (47.6%). The V-Hawks held the advantage in rebounds (43-35) and turnovers (18-15) as the win leaves Viterbo just a half game back of first place in the Midwest Collegiate Conference.

With the victory, Viterbo improves to 9-13 overall with a 7-4 MCC record. The loss drops Mount Mercy to 17-8 overall and 5-6 in the MCC. Viterbo will look to keep the intensity high as they are set to face Saint Ambrose University this Saturday with tip-off expected at 3:00 pm at R.W. Beggs Sr. Gymnasium on the campus of Viterbo University.