River Falls, Wis. (uwrfsports.com) –
Alex Herink took an out-of-bounds pass and hit a go ahead three with 11 seconds to go to give the UW-River Falls men's basketball team a home win over No. 7 UW-Eau Claire.
THE RUNDOWN
Final Score: UW-River Falls: 60, UW-Eau Claire 59
Location: Karges Center, River Falls, Wisconsin
Record: UWRF: 11-1 (1-0 WIAC), UW-Eau Claire 10-2 (0-1 WIAC)
WHAT HAPPENED
- Down the stretch the two top ranked teams exchanged leads, after the Herink three, the Falcons defense swiped away the ball before the ball rolled into a Blugold shooter who attempted a three at the buzzer, which rolled off the rim.
- Early on the game had a heavyweight atmosphere with the two teams tied at the midway point of the first half, 12-12.
- Off the bench, Matt Keller connected on a three to break the tie, and the Falcons would hold a tight lead for the next nine minutes.
- Eau Claire took the lead with seven straight points capped off by a George Diekelman layup.
- Grant Erickson hit some tough shots in the game, and a big one came late in the first half which gave the Falcons the lead right back, which they would hold on to going into the half up 29-27.
- The Blugolds would race back with back-to-back threes, and then a layup to take the lead just four a half minutes into the second half.
- Lead changes were frequent in the second half, but the Blugolds took control at 14:04 in the second half, and kept the scrappy Falcons at bay until 3:06 to go in the game.
- Clawing their way back, Clay Seifert rose the crowd to their feet with a triple that put the Falcons up by two points with 3:06 to go.
- The Blugolds got a big bucket from Chris Duff with 1:47 to go in the game to give UWEC a two point lead, but the second chance opportunity that turned into the Herink triple, gave the Falcons their fourth home win of the season.
IN-DEPTH LOOK
- Herink led the offense with a home season-high 23 points, including the clutch contested shot.
- Seifert stepped up in a big way offensively with a career high 15 points on 5-8 from the floor and 2-3 from beyond the arc.
- Erickson was steady on the offensive end with seven points and four assists. He had just 1 turnover and grabbed two steals.
- From the floor, UWRF shot 22-56 (39.3 percent) but six timely shots from beyond the arc kept the Falcons in the game late.
- UWRF took advantage of 14 Blugold turnovers scoring 18 points off turnovers, and committed just nine as a team with 12 assists.
THE OPPOSITION
- UW-Eau Claire's leading scorer was Josh Weix with 17 points on 7-12. Diekelman scored 12 as well as Jack Martinek.
- The Blugolds shot 23-49 (46.9 percent) from the field, down from their 54.3 percent on the season.
- The Blugolds were held to 7-18 (38.9 percent) as a team from beyond the arc.
LOOKING AHEAD
Conference season is in full swing with UW-Platteville coming to Karges Center on January 7
th at 5 p.m. The Falcons last season split the season series with the Pioneers.