EAU CLAIRE - The UW-Eau Claire men's basketball team made it a clean sweep for the UWEC basketball program as it defeated UW-Platteville tonight by a score of 56-51.

The victory improves the Blugolds record to 10-9 overall and 3-8 in Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (WIAC) action. The loss drops the Pioneers to 9-9 overall and 4-6 in the WIAC.

The Blugolds got off to a quick start outscoring the Pioneers 14-4 the first nine minutes of the game. The Blugolds as a team made three from beyond the arc during that time span. The Blugolds would lead by as much as 15 with 8:49 to go in the first half. The Blugolds would maintain that lead and go into halftime with a 28-16 advantage.

The men's defense picked up right where the women's left off as the Pioneers shot only 19% from the field in the half. The Pioneers made one more free throw, six, than field goals, five, in the half.

The Blugolds would have their biggest lead of the game of 16 with 17:05 to go in the game following a Dan Beyer (So.-Waukesha, WI/Catholic Memorial) three-pointer. With the score 41-26 in favor of the Blugolds with 13:55 to go, the Pioneers would go on a 10-0 run to cut the lead down to five with 10:54 to go.

The Pioneers would then get it down to three with 1:56 remaining in the game. The Blugolds would then hit four free throws in the final minute to stay out in front. With the Blugolds up by three with 5 seconds left, B.J. Vetterkind (Fr.-Mondovi, WI) would breakout and hit a lay-up to preserve the victory as the Blugolds would go onto win 56-51.

The Blugolds finished the game shooting 46% from the field, while the Pioneers finished shooting just 35%. The Pioneers out-rebounded the Blugolds 39-23 and outscored them in the paint 32-16, but it wasn't enough.

Zack Ryan (So.-Lake Elmo, MN/Tartan) led the Blugolds in scoring with 11 points. Dan Ottney (So.-Glenwood City, WI) was the only other Blugold in double-figures with 10. LeVon Crawford led all scorers with 17 points for the Pioneers

Up next the Blugolds will host WIAC foe UW-Stevens Point on Wednesday night in Zorn Arena. The tip-off is scheduled to begin at 7 p.m.

Eau Claire-Platteville Box Score

- JR -