EAU CLAIRE, Wis. - Dan Beyer (Sr. -Waukesha/Catholic Memorial) and the UW-Eau Claire men's basketball team had no problem with UW-River Falls tonight as it won 77-54 and Beyer posted a double-double.

Beyer had 17 points and a career-high 14 rebounds tonight to lead Eau Claire to .500 at 11-11. It is 5-8 in the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (WIAC) compared to 2-10 for the Falcons. River Falls is 8-13 overall. The win breaks a string of five straight losses.

The Blugolds got off to an incredible start tonight, putting up 15 points to just one for River Falls in the first six minutes. The lead leveled off for awhile at 13:34 but then Eau Claire got it to 17 points at 8:56 and 7:40.

The Falcons then had their best stretch of the game, a 14-4 run. That made the lead 26-19, but Eau Claire got it to 34-21 by half.

The Blugolds' defense held River Falls to 8-for-25 (32.0 percent) shooting while the offense shot 14-for-28 (50.0 percent).

At the start of the second half, the Falcons knocked the lead down to eight, but Eau Claire went on a 16-2 run and made the score 50-28. The lead stayed comfortably near 20 before a 9-0 Blugold burst made it 66-39, which was Eau Claire's biggest lead of the day. The Blugolds had no trouble keeping River Falls at bay the rest of the game and won 77-54.

The shooting percentage for Eau Claire improved in the second half, reaching 60.0 percent (18-for-30). River Falls' was 32.4 percent (11-for-34).

For the game, Eau Claire shot 32-for-58 (55.2 percent) while the Falcons went 19-for-59 (32.2 percent), worst for an opponent this year. Eau Claire made 4-of-15 (26.7 percent) from behind the arc and 9-of-19 (47.4 percent) from the line. River Falls went 5-for-19 (26.3 percent) and 11-for-23 (47.8 percent). Both teams had 12 turnovers, but Eau Claire outrebounded River Falls 46-to-35 with the most rebounds the team has had all year.

Besides Beyer's great game, three others made it into double-digits. They include Ryan Shea (Fr.-Duluth, MN/East) with 13 and Jacob Schlub (So.-Catawba/Phillips) and Mark Tiefel (Jr.-Eau Claire/Immanuel), who each had 11. Shea also had six assists. Wade Guerin's 13 Falcon points were most for his team.

Eau Claire hopes to climb above .500 on Wednesday when it hosts No. 11 UW-Stevens Point at 7 p.m.

Eau Claire-River Falls Box Score

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