RIVER FALLS, Wis. - Though the score was close, the UW-Eau Claire men's basketball team was behind for just 39 seconds in today's 74-70 win over UW-River Falls.

Eau Claire jumps above .500 in Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (WIAC) games at 4-3 and now holds a 10-6 record in all games. The Falcons continued their struggles in the WIAC as they now are 1-6 in conference games. River Falls is 7-9 overall.

The Falcons would score the first bucket of the game today, but Eau Claire came back to tie it and then take the lead on a Dan Beyer (Sr.-Waukesha/Catholic Memorial) three. The Blugolds would not fall behind the rest of the game, though there was one more tie. The beginning of the first half was marked by the Falcons getting within a point before the Blugolds would respond with a three. At 14:20 and 12:19, Geoff Probst (So.-Moose Lake, MN) increased the lead from long range, with the latter making it 17-13.

The Blugolds kept pushing the lead and got it to eight at 8:31 after another Probst three. River Falls would narrow it to two points a few times before half, but the teams went to the locker rooms with Eau Claire up 37-30.

Eau Claire went 7-for-12 in threes during the first half and 15-for-25 (60.0 percent) from the floor. River Falls was close in shooting percentage at 13-for-23 (56.5 percent), but shot 1-for-8 on threes.

The Falcons made some noise in the second half, starting out with a 9-2 run to tie it at 39 with 17:08 to play. The game was tight for the next several minutes as Eau Claire only managed points from the line. Layups by Rashann Goodwin (Jr.-Minneapolis, MN/Holy Angels) and Beyer made the lead 46-41 and then 48-41.

The lead would stay above four until 5:49, when the Falcons completed a 7-0 run. The Blugolds doubled the lead to four before River Falls knocked it down to one at 4:41 and 3:54. Beyer followed with a three throw and Probst and Ryan Shea (Fr.-Duluth, MN/East) had buckets to make the lead 67-61 at 2:06. The Blugolds would hold onto the lead en route to a 74-70 win.

Eau Claire's shooting percentage fell to 45.5 percent, just below River Fall's second half percentage of 46.4 percent. The Blugolds took 22 free throws in the half and made 16.

For the game, Eau Claire shot 53.2 percent from the floor, but made 8-of-15 for 53.3 percent on threes. The team made 66.7 percent of free throws. River Falls shot worse in shooting percentage and three-pointers (51.0 percent and 26.1 percent), but hit 70.6 percent from the line. The Falcons won the rebound battle 32-to-22.

Probst led everyone in points with 26. He also made 4-of-6 threes. Beyer followed with 19 points and Shea had 14. Shea's six boards and five steals also led.

Willie Wright and Scott Kelly had 18 and 13 points, respectively.

The Blugolds will next play on Wednesday at UW-Stevens Point.

Eau Claire-River Falls Box Score

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