EAU CLAIRE - The UW-Eau Claire men's basketball team lost its season opener tonight by a score of 66-54 to Coe College in the first game of the Wisconsin-Iowa Challenge.

The Blugolds started out quick scoring the first four points of the game and jumping out to an early lead. However, that lead was short lived as the Kohawks took a 9-8 lead with 13:35 to play in the first half and never looked back.

The Kohawks went on an 11-0 run midway through the first half as the Blugolds only had one field goal in a span of eight and a half minutes. The Kohawks biggest lead was 12 before the Blugolds cut into that lead before the half and the halftime score was 30-25 in favor of the Kohawks. The Blugolds only shot 34% in the first half, while Coe shot 52%.

The Blugolds came out in the second half and cut the lead to two on Dan Beyer's (So.-Waukesha, WI/Catholic Memorial) three-point-play. The Blugold's then cut the lead to one with 14 minutes to play after B.J. Vetterkind's (Fr.-Mondovi, WI) jumper. However, that's as close as the Blugolds would get as the Kohawks would extend the lead and hit their free throws when it mattered for a final score of 66-54.

The Blugolds shot better in the second half, but were still under 40% for the game. Both teams struggled from beyond the arc combining to go 7-for-34. The Kohawks had 18 points off Blugold turnovers, while UWEC only had six points off Kohawk turnovers

The Blugolds' Jared Bardon (So.-DeForest, WI) led all scorers with 19 points. Vetterkind contributed 11 points off the bench for the Blugolds.

The loss drops the Blugolds to 0-1 on the season and Coe College improves to 1-0.

Up next for the Blugolds is game two of the Wisconsin-Iowa Challenge when UWEC hosts Buena Vista College tomorrow night. The action gets underway at 7 p.m. in Zorn Arena.

Eau Claire-Coe box score

- JR -