EAU CLAIRE, Wis. - Despite being down 19 at half, the UW-Eau Claire men's basketball team made a run in the second half before falling 88-81 to UW-Superior on a historic night for Dan Beyer (Sr. -Waukesha/Catholic Memorial).

Beyer needed just five points heading into the game to reach 1,000 and he got it in the second half. He would score 22 in the game to give him 1,017 in his career, which is 35th all-time. The record holder is Tony Carr, who amassed 2,257 points between 1978-82.

This is the third straight Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (WIAC) loss for Eau Claire, who is now 4-6 in the conference. Superior is also 4-6 against WIAC teams now. The Yellowjackets are 8-10 overall while the Blugolds are 10-9.

The first half did not go well for the Blugolds, who shot 9-for-24 (37.5 percent). Superior, meanwhile, sank 14-of-23 (60.9 percent). It started out close and Eau Claire even had a 6-5 lead at 17:31. It was the only Blugold lead of the day, though Eau Claire tied it up 8-all and 10-all within the next three minutes. At 13:57, Superior went on a 9-0 run that lasted over four minutes.

The lead would hit 10 at 8:10 with a 24-14 score. Colin Boone (So.-Eau Claire/Memorial) made a free throw to knock back within single figures before an 11-2 Yellowjacket run made it 35-17. It would not get any better, as Superior took a 41-22 lead into halftime.

In the second half, the Yellowjackets kept building on their lead early. The margin reached 24 at 17:37 and 17:04, before the Blugolds put on a 9-0 surge of their own. Beyer's layup at 15:29 during this run gave him his 1,000th point. A Geoff Probst (So.-Moose Lake, MN) three, a couple Beyer makes and a Zack Ryan (Sr.-Lake Elmo, MN/Tartan) jumper brought it down to 10 at 11:38.

The margin would hover between 10 and 15 points for most of the remaining minutes. At 1:42, though, Probst hit a three to get within nine and with 21 seconds left, another Probst long-range shot got it within five. Then, with 18 seconds, Ryan Shea (Fr.-Duluth, MN/East) layed one in to make it 85-81. However, the Yellowjackets made their free throws to secure the win. For the half, they made 19-of-25 from the line for 76.0 percent. Eau Claire made nearly twice as many from floor, going 22-of-39 (56.4 percent). Superior shot 12-of-20 (60.0 percent) while getting outscored 59-47 in the half.

For the game, the Yellowjackets outshot Eau Claire from the floor (60.5 percent-to-49.2 percent), from the line (75.8 percent-to-68.8 percent) and from behind the arc (73.3 percent-to-42.1 percent). The Blugolds did well down low, outrebounding Superior 34-to-21. It also only gave the ball away one more time than Superior did, which is second in the WIAC in turnover margin.

Three Blugolds hit double-digits in points tonight but Beyer had the best performance, scoring 22 and becoming the 39th Blugold ever to accumulate 1,000 career points. He is the second member of Blugold basketball to achieve the mark this season, as Michelle Burns (Sr.-Eau Claire/North) hit 1,000 on January 19 in River Falls for the women's team.

Probst had 18 points and went 4-for-6 on threes while Boone posted 12 points. Beyer's seven rebounds were also most for Eau Claire

As usual, Superior spread the ball around. Four players had more than 10 points, including Dwight Hill (23), Dan Culy (20), Jake Smith (17) and Shane Manor (15).

The Yellowjackets swept the season series to move the all-time record to 117-59 in favor of Eau Claire.

This Saturday's game will be on the road as No. 8 UW-Whitewater hosts the Blugolds at 5 p.m.

Eau Claire-Superior Box Score

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