UW-L Drops Fourth Straight with Loss to UW-Eau Claire

For Immediate Release: Saturday, Jan. 24, 2009

La Crosse, Wis. – The UW-La Crosse men’s basketball team dropped its fourth straight WIAC contest with an 85-70 loss to UW-Eau Claire Saturday afternoon in Mitchell Hall. The Eagles drop to 8-10 overall and 2-7 in the WIAC while the Blugolds improve to 10-7 overall and 4-5 in the conference.

UW-L raced out to a 6-2 lead and later led 13-8 with 14:48 remaining in the first half, but UW-Eau Claire tied the game at 16-16 with 11:17 left. The Blugolds went on an 18-6 run to lead 34-22 with 6:43 remaining. UW-Eau Claire led 36-26 when UW-L finished the half with a 9-3 run to cut its halftime deficit to 39-35.

The Eagles cut the lead to 41-37 with 18:28 left on Andy Merklein’s jumper, but UW-L would get no closer the rest of the game. UW-Eau Claire led 52-46 with 15:20 left when it went on a 13-4 run. The Blugolds converted their final 10 free throw attempts of the game.

Trevor Stratton led UW-L with a career-high 30 points, finishing nine-of-17 from the field, including three-of-seven from three-point range. He was seven-of-nine at the line. Merklein finished with 11 points while Tony Mane had nine. UW-L shot 37.5% from the field, including 22.7% (five-of-22) from three-point range. The team was 23-of-28 (82.1%) at the line.

Dan Beyer led UW-Eau Claire with 29 points and 11 rebounds. He was 10-of-14 from the field, including hitting all three of his three-point attempts. Beyer was also six-of-seven at the line. Ryan Shea added 15 points for the Blugolds. UW-Eau Claire shot 61.7% from the field, including 46.2% (six-of-13) from three-point range. The Blugolds were 21-of-25 (84.0%) at the line.

UW-L returns to action Wednesday, Jan. 28 hosting seventh-ranked UW-Whitewater at 7 p.m.