EAU CLAIRE - The UW-Eau Claire men's basketball team was defeated tonight 64-58 by UW-La Crosse in the second game of the men's and women's doubleheader.

The first half of the men's game was just as close as the women's game. Neither team had a greater lead of six in the half. The Blugolds first lead came with 12:15 remaining in the first half, but the Eagles would go on a 6-0 run to extend the lead back to five.

The Blugolds would then regain the lead with 1:24 remaining in the half on jumper by Matt Riley (Jr.-Cadott, WI). However, the Eagles would score the final five points of the half to go into halftime with a 33-29 lead.

The Eagles shot very well in the half, shooting 54.5%, while the Blugolds just shot 36.4%. The Eagles also outscored the Blugolds in the paint 18-4.

The Blugolds would yet again take the lead early in the second half on a Jared Bardon (So.-DeForest, WI) three-pointer. The Blugolds would go up by as much as four with 11:35 remaining in the game.

The Eagles, however, would outscore the Blugolds 18-4 over the next five minutes to go up by a score of 56-46 with 6:22 remaining. The Blugolds would get it down to four with just under three minutes left, but the Eagles were too much as La Crosse went on to win 64-58.

The Blugolds' Jared Bardon had a career-high 24 points in the losing effort, while Zack Ryan (So.-Lake Elmo, MN/Tartan) added 12 points for the Blugolds.

The Eagles' bench ended up outscoring the Blugolds bench 19-6 in the game.

The loss drops the Blugolds to 3-3 overall and 0-2 in the WIAC. The Eagles improve to 6-1 overall and 1-1 in conference play.

Up next the Blugolds will host UW-River Falls Wednesday night. The action gets underway at 7 p.m. in Zorn Arena.

Eau Claire-La Crosse Box Score

- JR -