EAU CLAIRE, Wis. — The University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire lost to Macalester College 90-83 on Monday at Sonnentag Event Center despite a late 14-0 second-half run that narrowed a 25-point deficit to 11. The Blugolds scored 46 points after halftime, finished with a 40-30 rebounding advantage and held a 42-30 edge in points in the paint. Macalester countered with 15 3-pointers, 23 assists and 27 points off 20 UW-Eau Claire turnovers.
Marley Baah-Yeboah scored first, and
Roman Richards and
Tyler Haney added early baskets as the Blugolds led 8-3 after Haney's 3-pointer at 18:09, but Macalester tied it at 8 on Luke Thompson's layup and went in front 11-8 on Kaden Holdbrook's 3-pointer. Richards tied it with a 3-pointer and put UW-Eau Claire ahead with a second-chance layup before Haney's steal and fast-break layup made it 17-13, and after Macalester briefly led 18-17, Haney's layup at 11:28 put the Blugolds back ahead before
Joey Butz's 3-pointer made it 22-18.
Macalester answered from the perimeter, with Logan Davis and Noah Hamburge making 3-pointers as Macalester tied the score at 24 and moved ahead 29-26 on Thompson's layup, before Richards hit a free throw and Baah-Yeboah dunked off a Richards assist to tie it at 29 at 6:02. Macalester moved back ahead with Salifou Camara's layup and free throw at 4:51, Joseph Costanzo's layup and Camara's fast-break finish, and although
Luke Reder scored five straight points for UW-Eau Claire to cut it to 36-34, Owen Walther hit two late 3-pointers and Holdbrook added another in the final 10 seconds as Macalester led 47-37 at halftime.
Macalester held the Blugolds without a point until
Joey Butz's 3-pointer at 15:43, building a 58-37 lead on early free throws and baskets from the Scots. UW-Eau Claire answered with an eight-point run, as Butz hit from 3, Baah-Yeboah scored in the paint and Reder knocked down a 3-pointer off a Richards assist to make it 58-45 at 14:28. Macalester pushed the margin back out from there, getting repeated scores from Salifou Camara and a pair of Luke Thompson free throws in the stretch to lead 81-56 at 6:35, before
Colin Schultz's 3-pointer began a 14-0 Blugolds run that included Scots turnovers converted into a Butz 3-pointer and a Butz layup and ended with a Haney free throw at 4:10.
Richards, Haney and UW-Eau Claire kept cutting into the deficit down the stretch, with Haney's tip-in making it 84-81 at :33, but the Scots made two free throws before a layup helped them close out a 90-83 final.
Haney scored 22 points, grabbed five rebounds and added two steals. Richards recorded a double-double with 20 points, 11 rebounds and four assists.
Joey Butz tallied 14 points with four 3-pointers and three steals. Reder added 10 points, six rebounds and three assists.
The Blugolds are now 1-1 overall, while Macalester is 1-1 overall.
Up next, UW-Eau Claire travels to Angola, Ind., to face Trine University and La Roche University on Friday and Saturday, Nov. 13 and 14, at 8 p.m. and 1p.m. EST at MTI Center.
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