WINONA, MN - The UW-Eau Claire men's basketball team tuned up for its Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference opener at UW-Stout next Wednesday with a 78-65 non-conference triumph over St. Mary's University here Saturday night.

Geoff Probst (Fr. Transfer-Moose Lake, MN) came off the bench to lead the Blugolds with 19 points as he hit 8 of 10 from the field including all three of his trey attempts. Dan Beyer (Jr.-Waukesha/Catholic Memorial) and Jared Bardon (Jr.-DeForest) each contributed 16 in a balanced attack.

The game was tied five teams and there were eight lead changes in the first 12 minutes of the contest. The Blugolds broke from the final tie at 21-21 with 8:29 to go and opened a seven-point lead at 38-31 before settling for a 40-36 halftime advantage.

It took almost three minutes for either team to score in the second half but then the Blugolds slowly pulled away. They hit a double digit lead for good at 52-42 with 12:11 remaining.

The final score was similar to last year's meeting between the two teams which the Blugolds won 76-66. Eau Claire has now won four straight against the Cardinals and leads the all-time series, 15-5.

The Blugolds shot 52 percent from the field (27-52) compared to 40 percent (20-50) for St. Mary's. Both teams were sharp from the free throw line, the Blugolds hitting 19 of 25 and St. Mary's 19 of 24. The Blugolds had a slight 33-28 advantage on the boards and turned the ball over just eight times compared to 11 for the Cardinals.

St. Mary's leading scorer also came off the bench. Michael Batterman sank 12 of 14 charity tosses and finished with a team-high 16 points. The only starter to reach twin digits was Brensley Haywood with 11.

St. Mary's is 0-2 on the season while the Blugolds are now 2-1.

Eau Claire-St. Mary's Box Score

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