Defending Champs Too Much For Men's Basketball - University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire Blugold Athletics

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Defending Champs Too Much For Men's Basketball

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Posted: Saturday, December 4, 2004

EAU CLAIRE - The UW-Eau Claire men's basketball team hung with defending national champion and No. 1 UW-Stevens Point through the first half, taking a 31-31 tie into the break, but the Pointers outscored the Blugolds 40-19 in the second half as Eau Claire fell 71-50 here today at Zorn Arena.

The Blugolds fall to 3-3 on the season and 1-1 in Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference play while Stevens Point improves to a perfect 6-0 on the season and 2-0 in the WIAC.

The first half was played extremely close, with neither team opening a lead of more than five points. The Pointers opened the game on a 6-1 run but the Blugolds scored the next nine points to take a 10-6 lead with 12:47 remaining in the first half. Will Jefferson (Sr.-Wausau/East) scored five of the nine points on the run.

Dan Archambault

The two teams battled back and forth the rest of the half but Eau Claire never held the lead after the Pointers tied the game at 14 with 10:49 left in the half. The Blugolds did force four ties the rest of the half, including tying the game at 31 with just seconds remaining in the half when Dan Archambault (Sr.-Oshkosh/West) drove to the hoop and was fouled for a three-point play.

The first four minutes of the second half was much of the same, with the Pointers holding a lead no bigger than four points. Things quickly spun out of control for the Blugolds, however, as a 40-36 deficit quickly turned to a 50-36 deficit as the Pointers went on a 10-0 run. Eau Claire was not able to respond and ended up with the 71-50 defeat at the hands of the national champs.

All-American Jason Kalsow led the Pointers with 23 points on 9-of-16 shooting. He also totaled team-highs of five rebounds and four assists. Jon Krull finished with 13 points and Nick Bennett totaled 11 points in the win.

Archambault led the Blugolds with 15 points while Casey Drake (Sr.-Rhinelander) finished with 14 in the loss. Jefferson finished with eight points, four rebounds and three assists while Kale Proksch (Jr.-Chaseburg/Westby) had a game-best seven rebounds.

The Pointers out-shot the Blugolds by nearly 20 percent, hitting 27-of-48 (56.3 percent) from the floor against Eau Claire's 18-of-48 (37.5 percent). Stevens Point hit an unbelievable 8-of-16 (50 percent) from behind the three-point arc. The Blugolds were dominated by the Pointer inside players, as Stevens Point tallied 38 points in the paint while Eau Claire managed just 14.

The Blugolds will be back in action Tuesday night, when they host conference opponent UW-Oshkosh at 7:00 p.m. at Zorn Arena.

Eau Claire-Stevens Point Box Score

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