EAU CLAIRE - The UW-Eau Claire men's basketball team won its first game of the season tonight, winning in a close one 70-64 over Buena Vista College in the second game of the Wisconsin-Iowa Challenge.

The game went back-and-forth for the first five minutes before the Blugolds went on a 14-0 run to go up by 13. The Beavers went on a 15-7 run before the end of the first half to cut the score to 39-36 in favor of the Blugolds at halftime.

The Blugolds shot well in the first half going 14-for-28 from the field and hitting 5-of-11 three-pointers. The Beavers doubled-up the Blugolds in the paint in the half, however, scoring 16 points inside compared to the Blugolds eight.

The Beavers regained the lead at the beginning of the second half for the first time since the 14:29-mark of the first half. The game went back-and-forth again for the most part of the second half until the Blugolds extended the lead to as much as six with 5:55 to play in the game. Buena Vista would come back to tie the game with 3:44 remaining.

B.J. Vetterkind (Fr.-Mondovi, WI) gave the Blugolds the lead after two clutch foul shots. Back-to-back lay-ups by the Blugolds' Tyler Birkel (Sr.-Spring Valley) and Jared Bardon (So.-DeForest, WI) extended the lead back to six. The Beavers would cut the lead again to two with just under a minute remaining, but the Blugolds would go 5-of-6 from the free throw line in the final minute to seal the deal for a final score 70-64.

The Blugolds' Dan Ottney (So.-Glenwood City, WI) led all scorers with 15 points. All of Ottney's points came by way of the three-point shot as he went 5-for-9. Ottney also led the team in rebounds with six. Vetterkind had 14 points off the bench for the Blugolds and guard Zack Ryan (So.-Lake Elmo, MN/Tartan) added 11 points going 4-for-5 from the free throw line including three in the final minute.

The victory gives the Blugolds a 1-1 record this season, while the Beavers fall to 0-2.

Up next for the Blugolds is the Wisconsin Lutheran Classic on Friday, November 25 and Saturday, November 26 in Milwaukee. The Blugolds will play Wisconsin Lutheran Friday at 8 p.m.

Eau Claire-Buena Vista box score

- JR -