MENOMONIE, Wis. - In its final game before the WIAC conference tournament, the UW-Eau Claire men's basketball team had its two-game winning streak snapped at the hands of UW-Stout 89-75 at Johnson Fieldhouse.

At 15-10 overall and 8-8 in conference play, the Blugolds are the fifth seed in the tournament and will travel to UW-Oshkosh to take on the fourth seed Titans Tuesday. The Blugolds' fifth place finish in the WIAC is their highest finish since the 2000-01 season. The win for the Blue Devils gives them their second conference win of the season. Stout finishes the year 8-17 overall and 2-14 in the WIAC.

The Blugolds were faced with an uphill battle from the start, and were unable to recover at any point in the game. Stout opened the scoring with a three pointer 12 seconds into the contest and never looked back. At the 17:21 mark, Eau Claire cut Stout's lead to two on a Geoff Probst (Jr.-Moose Lake, Minn.), and that would be the closest the Blugolds would get for the remainder of the game. Stout increased its lead to double-digits midway through the first half and took a 49-29 lead into halftime. Eau Claire shot just 8-27 (29.6 percent) from the field in the first, while Stout converted on 18-36 (50 percent) field goal attempts.

Stout continued its dominance in the second half and led by as many as 25 points in the final frame. Despite shooting 62.5 percent from the field in the half, the Blugolds were unable to cut Stout's lead to less than double-digits.

Probst and Nick Bartlett (Fr.-Arden Hills, Minn./Mounds View) led the scoring for the Blugolds, tallying 10 points each. Probst also pulled down a game high 11 rebounds, giving him a double-double on the afternoon.

Eric Hostetter scored a career-high 28 points to lead the way for the Blue Devils.

Tuesday's action at UW-Oshkosh is set to begin at 7 p.m.

Eau Claire-Stout Box Score

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