EAU CLAIRE – The UW-Eau Claire men’s basketball team fell to Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference UW-Platteville 56-55 in the final seconds here tonight at Zorn Arena.
The Pioneers jumped out to the early lead with four three-pointers in the first four minutes to go up 12-2. Casey Drake put the team on his back for the next few minutes leading the Blugolds on a 17-0 run with 11 points to put Eau Claire up 22-16. Platteville responded with a 15-4 run to close the half to send the Blugolds into half trailing 31-26.
Drake led all scorers in the first half scoring 17 of Eau Claire’s 26 points. Brad Reitzner led Platteville with 14 at half.
Eau Claire came out firing to open the second half going on a 11-2 run to take a 37-33 lead with 16:03 remaining. Both teams would exchange baskets till the closing seconds.
Platteville’s LeVon Crawford hit two free throws to put the Pioneers up 54-53 with 2:34 left in regulation. Dan Archambault countered with a jumper to put the Blugolds up 55-54 with 1:16 left.
After a series of timeouts, Platteville’s Reitzner converted on a lay-up to give the Pioneers a 56-55 lead with 0.9 seconds remaining. Drake’s desperation shot at the buzzer fell short sending the Blugolds 3-5 in the WIAC and 9-8 overall.
Drake led all scorers with 23 points while Archambault added 11, all in the second half. Reitzner led Platteville with 18.
The Blugolds offense took care of the ball throughout committing only six turnovers while the defense turned 11 Platteville turnovers into 12 points. The Pioneers outshot Eau Claire 51.2 percent to 39.2 percent.
Eau Claire will be in action next when they travel to Menomonie to take on WIAC rival UW-Stout as part of a doubleheader. The game is scheduled to begin at 5 p.m.