EAU CLAIRE, Wis. — The University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire men's basketball team dropped its first home Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (WIAC) contest of the season, falling to UW-River Falls 67-65 on Saturday at the Sonnentag Event Center. In a game that featured nine lead changes, the Falcons built a lead late in the second half and held off a push from the Blugolds.
HOW IT HAPPENED
- The game was back-and-forth, featuring 10 ties and nine lead changes.
- Neither side led by more than four points in the first half. The Blugolds (9-5, 1-2) shot at a slightly better clip than the Falcons (7-7, 1-2) in the first half, but UW-River Falls took a 31-30 lead into the locker room.
- The game followed a similar path for the first 10 minutes of the second half, with neither team holding a lead larger than five points. The Falcons started finding some separation around the halfway point of the half though, using a 10-2 run to pull ahead 55-45 with 8:47 left.
- The Blugolds were able to whittle the deficit down to four with 5:49 remaining, but UW-River Falls responded with a 7-2 spurt to go ahead 66-57 with 3:24 to go.
- UW-Eau Claire conjured an 8-0 run across a span of three minutes to make it a one-point game with nine seconds left. The Falcons made a free throw at the other end to make it 67-65, and the Blugolds missed a potential game-winning 3-pointer at the buzzer.
- Carter Huschka (Sr. - Farmington, Minn.) led UW-Eau Claire with 23 points and eight rebounds.
- Andre Renta (Jr. - Hudson, Wis.) had the best game of his Blugold career as a facilitator, dishing 10 assists while only having one turnover. He also scored 12 points.
- Michael Casper (Sr. - Merrill, Wis.) had 14 points. Carter Lichtsinn (Jr. - Olathe, Kan./Olathe West) added 11 points.
- UW-Eau Claire shot 37% collectively, compared to 42% for the Falcons.
UP NEXT
The Blugolds will visit No. 1 UW-Platteville on Wednesday, January 15. Tip-off is at 7 p.m. in Platteville.
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