News Release

RIVER FALLS, Wis. —

The UW-Eau Claire men’s basketball team played UW-River Falls tough but in the end Division III Preseason Player of the Year Rich Melzer was too tough as the Blugolds fell 68-60 here tonight at the Karges Center.
The Blugolds jumped out to an early 3-0 lead following a Casey Drake three-pointer. Back-to-back jumpers from Melzer would give the Falcons the lead but Kale Proksch countered with a jumper and a pair of free throws to keep Eau Claire in front.
River Falls fired back with an 8-2 run to take a 14-9 lead with 11:43 left in the opening half. Jumpers from Colin Walsh and Tyler Birkel would bring the Blugolds back to within one point but the Falcons countered with an 8-1 run to open up a 22-14 lead.
Eau Claire would slowly whittle the lead down with a Chad Honl jumper pulling the Blugolds within two points going into halftime. Proksch matched Melzer for scoring honors in the first half with each player scoring 13 points.
The Blugolds came out firing in the second half with two three-pointers from Walsh and another from Will Jefferson giving Eau Claire a 37-34 lead. A Honl lay-up with 12:35 left in regulation would give the Blugolds their biggest lead of the game at seven.
The Falcons came right back at Eau Claire going on a 24-7 run to take a 60-50 lead with 3:44 left in the game. The Blugolds would cut the lead to seven following a Drake jumper but could get no closer as River Falls hit all six free throws down the stretch.
Proksch finished the game with a career-high 15 points to share Blugold scoring honors with Drake. Proksch led Eau Claire to a 36-27 rebounding advantage as he matched his career-high with nine rebounds. Melzer had game-highs of 27 points and 10 rebounds while shooting 13 of 18 from the field.
Eau Claire shot 42.6 percent from the field and nine of 12 from the free throw line while River Falls shot 48.1 percent from the floor and 11 of 14 from the charity stripe. The Blugolds committed 15 turnovers while forcing the Falcons into eight.
The Blugolds fall to 10-12 overall and 4-9 in Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference play while River Falls improves to 15-6 overall and 8-4 in the WIAC.
Eau Claire will be in action Tuesday when they try to avenge an early season loss to UW-Oshkosh. The game is scheduled to begin at 7 p.m.