BLUGOLDS FALL AGAIN IN FINAL SECONDS
EAU CLAIRE – For the third time in the last five games the UW-Eau Claire men’s basketball team dropped a decision in the final seconds of play, falling 67-66 in overtime to UW-La Crosse tonight here at W.L. Zorn Arena.
The Blugolds fall to 10-11 overall and 4-8 in Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference play while the Eagles win their first conference game of the season to improve to 1-11 in the WIAC standings and keep their conference tournament hopes alive. La Crosse moves to 8-13 for the season.
The Eagles set the tone early when Joe Werner scored the first four points of the night on a pair of slam dunks which sparked an 8-0 La Crosse run to start the contest. The Blugolds did not get on the board until 5:50 into the game when Casey Drake drove to the hoop and converted on a lay up. Colin Walsh hit a shot from downtown on the next possession to cut the lead to 8-5. The Eagles stayed tough despite losing Werner in the first five minutes due to early foul trouble and steadily built an 11-point lead. Eau Claire cut the lead to nine on a shot six seconds before the end of the half but trailed 28-19 at the break.
Eau Claire shot just five-of-17 from the floor in the first half for 29.4 percent while turning the ball over 13 times. The Eagles hit 10-of-20 from the floor for 50 percent.
The Blugolds got right back in the game after the half, using an 11-3 run in the opening 4:13 of the half to pull within one point at 31-30. Tyler Birkel scored six points on the run while Drake added three free-throws. Werner took over the Eagle offense after seeing just five minutes of action in the first half, scoring 19 of La Crosse’s 28 points in the second half. La Crosse refused to give up the lead as the Eagles widened their lead to seven but the Blugolds battled back and pulled within two points at 49-47 with 4:31 left to play. The Eagles again extended the lead to seven as Werner slam dunked two more balls and with 2:18 left to play in regulation, the Blugolds looked up at a 56-49 deficit. Drake took over on offense, scoring five straight points, and the Blugold defense held the Eagles scoreless the remainder of the half. With just five seconds left to play, Will Jefferson was fouled in the act of shooting and went to the line needing both free throws to tie the game. Jefferson nailed the first shot and the Eagles called a timeout to ice the shooter. After the timeout, Jefferson again hit nothing but net to tie the game for the first time since 0-0 at 56. The Eagles’ shot at the buzzer was off the mark and the game headed to overtime.
In the extra period, neither team connected on a shot until Josh Hall gave La Crosse the lead with 3:21 left to play. Drake answered with a two-point shot of his own to tie the game but Werner answered back with a lay up. Jefferson gave the Blugolds their first lead of the game with 2:03 remaining in overtime when he scored on two straight lay ups to give the Blugolds a 62-60 advantage. Chris Ask responded for the Eagles with a three-point shot but Drake fired back with a jumper that again gave the Blugolds the lead. Joe Bemis continued the game of back-and-forth with a lay up to give the Eagles the lead but Eau Claire missed a lay up on its turn down the court with less than 30 seconds remaining. Jefferson stepped up huge, stealing the ball from an Eagle at half-court and driving in for the uncontested lay up with 21 seconds remaining in the game.
The Blugolds called a timeout to set up a defensive plan but Casey Taggatz hit a tough fade-away jumper with just 2.9 seconds left to put the Blugolds down by a point. Drake’s shot at the buzzer bounced off the back iron and Eau Claire fell to the Eagles 67-66 in overtime.
Drake led the Blugolds with 17 points but Jefferson had the stand-out performance with a career-high 14 points on six-of-seven shooting and three steals. Birkel added 11 points in the loss.
Werner posted a game-high 25 points on 12-of-17 shooting to go along with eight rebounds and two steals. Taggatz and Ask each added 15 in the win.
Eau Claire resumes action this Saturday for a 5:00 p.m. match up at River Falls.