News Release

EAU CLAIRE, Wis. — Casey Drake scored a career-high 35 points but it was not enough to lift the UW-Eau Claire men’s basketball team over 12th-ranked UW-Stevens Point as the Blugolds fell to the Pointers 80-68 here tonight at W.L. Zorn Arena.

The Blugolds lose their fifth straight contest to fall to 10-14 for the season and 4-11 in Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference action while the Pointers improve to 19-4 overall and 10-4 in WIAC play. With UW-River Falls topping UW-Whitewater, Stevens Point moves into a three-way tie with both the Falcons and the Warhawks for first place in the WIAC. Idle UW-La Crosse remains at 3-11 with two games left while UW-Superior’s win over UW-Platteville moves them 5-10 in the WIAC, one game ahead of the Blugolds with both teams having one game remaining in the regular season.

Eau Claire came out of the gates quick with Will Jefferson scoring on a lay up just seconds into the game. Drake scored five of the Blugolds’ first nine points to put Eau Claire up 9-7 but the Pointers went on a 7-0 run to grab the lead. The Stevens Point lead grew to as much as nine points before a 6-0 Blugold run late in the half pulled Eau Claire within three. The Pointers answered with another 7-0 run to extend the lead to 10 with 34 seconds remaining in the first half. Dan Archambault connected on a shot from downtown to cut the lead to seven but the Pointers added a basket as time expired in the half to take a 35-26 lead into the intermission.

Both teams were on the mark in the first half with Eau Claire hitting 55 percent from the floor while Stevens Point hit exactly half of its shots.

The Pointers went ahead by as much at 12 in the early going of the second half but an incredible 15-2 run gave the Blugolds their first lead since early in the game at 43-42. Drake scored 11 of the 15 points during the run. The game did not stay tight for long, however, as the Pointers used a 9-0 run to turn a 45-44 Blugold lead into a 53-45 Blugold deficit. Drake pulled Eau Claire within four points twice, the latest coming with 8:02 remaining in the game, but the Pointers would slowly pull away. A Drake three-pointer with 5:45 left to play cut the Stevens Point lead to six but the Pointers then went on a 7-0 run to take a 74-61 lead and seal the victory.

Drake scored 27 of his 35 points in the second half and blew away his previous career-high of 23 points, shooting 12-of-19 from the floor, including five-of-seven from three-point range. He also grabbed a team-best six rebounds. Jefferson was the only other Blugold to score more than seven points as he scored 13 in the loss. The total is one-point shy of his career-high which he totaled last week in a losing effort against La Crosse.

Nick Bennett led the way for the Pointers with 20 points while Jason Kalsow added 15 in the win.

The Blugolds shot 54.2 percent for the game and 43.8 percent from downtown but hit just nine-of-16 from the free-throw line while the Pointers connected on 21-of-30 from the charity stripe.

Eau Claire will wrap up regular season play Tuesday when they travel to UW-Platteville to battle the Pioneers at 7:00 p.m.