Box Score Eau Claire, Wis. - The University of Wisconsin-La Crosse men's basketball team fell 64-57 at UW-Eau Claire Wednesday night in Zorn Arena. The Eagles drop to 15-9 overall and 9-4 in the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (WIAC) while the Blugolds improve to 15-9 overall and 8-5 in the conference.
With one game left in the regular season, UWL and UW-River Falls are tied for the WIAC lead at 9-4 while UW-Eau Claire and UW-Oshkosh are tied for third at 8-5. UW-Whitewater and UW-Stevens Point are tied for fifth with 7-6 records.
In the final games of the regular season Saturday, February 20, UWL hosts UW-Stevens Point while UW-River Falls plays at UW-Oshkosh and UW-Eau Claire hosts UW-Whitewater.
UWL forced a 16-16 tie with 8:56 left in the first half Wednesday on a
Devin Yurk three-pointer, but UW-Eau Claire used a 14-4 run to lead 30-20. The Blugolds led 33-22 with 3:33 left in the first half on a George Diekelman three-point field goal before the Eagles ended the half on a 6-0 run to cut the deficit to 33-28.
UW-Eau Claire led 43-35 with 16:26 left in the game on a Jack Martinek layup, but UWL went on a 11-0 run to take a 46-43 lead with 12:18 remaining after a
Jared Staege layup. The contest was tied 54-54 with 5:36 left on a Yurk layup before the Blugolds went on a 10-0 run to lead 64-54 with :18 remaining. UWL missed nine straight shots from the field before
Ryan Kruser's three-pointer with :07 left cut the final score to 64-57.
UWL shot 40.7% from the field, including 31.6% (six-of-19) from three-point range, and 75.0% (three-of-four) at the free throw line. Yurk led the Eagles with 19 points while
Ben Meinholz finished with 11. Staege and Kruser each finished with seven points while
Austin Fritz had six points and game-high 11 rebounds.
UW-Eau Claire shot 47.2% from the field, including 29.2% (seven-of-24) from three-point range, and 70.0% (seven-of-10) at the line. Martinek led the Blugolds with 17 points and 10 rebounds while Diekelman finished with 16 points and six rebounds.
UWL wraps up its regular-season Saturday, February 20 hosting UW-Stevens Point at 7 p.m.
