The UW-River Falls controlled the game the whole time never trialing at home against the UW-Eau Claire Blugolds and came away with a 80-71 victory.
"It was nice to beat Eau Claire. They have been hot as of late. It is always tough playing them," said Falcon Coach Jeff Berkhof. "I am just proud of our effort tonight. They (the Falcons) stayed calm and beleived in what we were doing. It was a real nice win."
Jon Christensen got UWRF on the board first with a basket on the first possession of the game for either team. Christen scored six points for UWRF within the first five minutes of the game while
CJ Lewis had five off a bank shot and a three. The Blugolds started off with a couple quick three pointers to stay with the Falcons only down 13-12 going into the first media timeout of the game.
Matt Timlin hit two big threes for the Falcons off the bench in the middle part of the first half. The Blugolds continued to answer finishing the first half with four threes of their own in the half. Going into the second media timeout of the half the two teams were tied 20-20.
UWRF went on a bit of a run coming out of the timeout with
Garret Pearson hitting a big three and
Jack Herum notching five points, one basket on a great inbounds play and another on a three pointer from the near side corner. With 3:26 left in the first half, UWEC called a timeout down 34-25 to UWRF.
The Falcons took a 36-29 lead into halftime led by Herum and Lewis who each had seven points while Christensen and Timlin each scored six.
After a slow couple minutes to start to the second half
Joe Deppe and Christensen hit back to back threes to put UWRF up 47-38 with just under 16 minutes to go. Going into the first media timeout the Falcons led 49-42 over the Blugolds.
Both teams had a slow couple of minutes coming out of the timeout before trading baskets to make it a 56-49 game with just over 10 minutes left. Going into the final media timeout of the game with 7:53 left the score remained 56-49 in favor of UWRF.
Coming out of the timeout
Grant Erickson made a nice move inside and kicked it out to Lewis who knocked it down from downtown. At the 5:30 mark Timlin hit a three of his own to put the Falcons up 63-52. Erickson sunk a couple free throws with under three minutes left in the game to put the Falcons up 69-57. UWEC scored on the next possession to make it a ten point game and called timeout with 2:42 left to go.
Lewis hit a pair of free throws and a quick lay up after a Blugold miss to put the Falcons up by 12 with around 1:30 left to go. The Blugolds were not ready to go away just yet hitting a big three with 1:10 to go in game to pull within nine. Erickson was able to knock down two free throws to put UWRF back up by double digits right after. Erickson stole the in bounds and was fouled just a second later and knocked down two more free throws to seal the game. Erickson went 10-15 from the charity stripe in the game.
UWRF had a balanced attack with three players hitting double digits. Erickson led with 16 points, Christensen had 15 and Lewis scored 14 while Herum and Timlin each contributed nine. UWRF shot 27-60 (45%) from the field while hitting ten form downtown and going 16-24 (66.7%) from the charity stripe.
The Falcons improve to 11-13 on the season and 9-6 in the WIAC. The win puts them in great position to host a WIAC playoff game next week. They will finish regular season play this Saturday at home against UW-Platteville with tip off set for 5 p.m.
Box Score
