WAVERLY, Iowa - The UW-Eau Claire men's basketball team took the court on Saturday night after setting multiple school records in a losing effort on Friday night. It's safe to say no records were broken on Saturday night when the Blugolds lost to Aurora University (Ill.), but the Blugolds did give it the good old college try while coming up short by a score of 64 - 55.

Aurora came out and took an early 5-0 lead, before the Blugolds got on the board with a Rashann Goodwin (Jr.-Minneapolis, MN/Holy Angels) jumper three minutes in. It was an even battle from there on out in the first half with both teams exchanging blows. The Blugolds never let the game get out of hand, and they made their run late in the first half when they were down 29-21 with 4:07 to go. With 3:53 to go in the first half, Dan Mullen (Jr.-St. Paul, MN/Tartan) hit a three-pointer to close the gap to 29-24. Mullen then hit another jumper to bring the Blugolds to within three, and Mullen sandwiched that jumper with another three to tie the game at 29-29 with 1:42 to go in the first half. The Half would end with the teams tied at 29 thanks to the Blugold's shutdown defense and Mullen's hot shooting.

The second half opened with a Dan Beyer (Sr.-Waukesha/Catholic Memorial) turnover which Aurora's Larry Walton turned into points with a layup to give Aurora a 31-29 lead. From there Aurora would slowly pull away. The Blugolds did not go quietly though. Trailing by 14 with 5:38 to go in the game, the Blugolds made a run. They were able to cut the deficit to seven, with 4:58 left in the game, after a Ryan Shea (Fr.-Duluth, MN/East) free throw. After a turnover by each team, the Blugolds had an opportunity to pull within four, but Mullen missed a three point attempt. Aurora's Jarrett Starwood grabbed the rebound on missed three, and Chad Trudo cashed in with a three pointer of his own to put Aurora up 60-50 with four minutes to go. The teams exchanged baskets from there with the Blugolds never getting within more than eight of Aurora.

Individually, the Blugolds were led in scoring by Shea. Shea was 4-10 from the field and 1-1 from the stripe for a total of 11 points. Shea also grabbed three rebounds and tallied three assists. Beyer led the Blugolds in rebounding with 13. Beyer, who led the Blugolds in scoring on Friday with 34 points, scored nine points while going 4-13 from the field. Geoff Probst (Jr.-Moose Lake, MN) also scored nine points for the Blugolds on 4-10 from the field. Mullen was next in line for the Blugolds with eight points.

Beyer was selected to the All-tournament team. Other members of the team are Grinnell's John Grotberg and Keith Chamberlain, Wartburg's Mitch Eslick and Brad Schmitt, and Aurora's Larry Welton. Chamberlain was also named the tournament's most valuable player.

The Blugolds will hope to put one in the "W" Column next weekend when they play in the Wisconsin Dells Classic in Baraboo, Wisconsin. The Blugolds first game is slated against Hamline University (Minn.), and the tip is set for 5:00 p.m. on Friday. The Blugolds will play Finlandia (Mich.) on Saturday at 3:00 p.m. The Blugolds did not play Hamline last year, and they were 2-0 against Finlandia.

Eau Claire-Aurora Box Score

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