Nicole Robinson

Sophomore guard Zack Ryan slowly walked onto the court with his four teammates surrounding him.

His eyes remained wide and his face tense as he kept the team motivated, shouting commands to each player. Behind him, the screams and cheers escalated as each player took their positions on the court. UW-Eau Claire led 57-56 with 20.9 seconds remaining – but UW-River Falls had possession.

“We didn’t want to foul a shooter,” Ryan said, especially with River Falls shooting 50 percent on the night and hitting all its free throws.

As River Falls guard Hans Hoeg attempted to pump fake the ball, Ryan nicked a piece of it. Ryan immediately lunged forward, securing the ball in his hands.

“I saw Dan Beyer down the court and I kind of wanted to throw it to him,” he said. “But you know, there’s three seconds left so I just wanted to keep it.”

The Blugolds held off one more River Falls shot attempt following Ryan’s missed free throw and gained their prize – their first WIAC victory of the 2005-2006 season.

“This is just huge for us to come out and get this win,” sophomore Jared Bardon said. “It feels great. We need this (game) bad.”

Bardon led Eau Claire (4-3, 1-2 WIAC) with 20 points, while dishing out four assists and pulling down three rebounds. Ryan followed with 10 points and four assists, while junior Dan Ottney put in 9 points.

The story of the first half and midway through the second dealt with River Falls putting the Blugolds in a hole and sinking them further into it. The Falcons nailed 14 out of 24 shots from the floor and 6 out of 8 from behind the arc, while the ‘Golds struggled to top 33 percent in both categories.

Even when Eau Claire tried to gain momentum, River Falls killed it by hitting its 3-pointers. The Blugolds soon found themselves trailing by 18 with 10:29 left in the game.

“We played bad probably for about 33 of the 40 minutes,” freshman B.J. Vetterkind said. “I was starting to think we were going to lose.”

With about 60 percent of Zorn Arena empty and the crowd faintly cheering when the Blugolds scored, coach Terry Gibbons didn’t lose hope.

He continued to tell his team the same thing all through the game, “Go to work,” even with his face squinting in pain when his team struggled throughout the majority of the game.

“You’re never out of it. We just kept telling our kids in the huddle we’ve just gotta keep working and make two points a minute,” Gibbons said. “If we make two points a minute, in the last minute we’ll be in this game.”

Eau Claire responded quickly with 13-0 as Bardon collected two 3-pointers and Ryan one, to close the gap 54-49. River Falls hit a field goal to try and kill the momentum, but two turnovers by the Falcons down the stretch inched the ‘Golds closer.

Ottney then secured Eau Claire’s winning shot after spinning inside the lane and fighting through three Falcon defenders to force a lay-up through.

“Our shots started to fall finally and our defense made some key stops,” Vetterkind said. “It was a very good feeling knowing that we were going to win with about two seconds left.”

Eau Claire’s only lead of the game became the one that mattered most, which occurred during the last 27 seconds. The ‘Golds won the points in the paint battle 26-12, points off turnovers 22-8 and second- chance points 19-5.

The win puts the Blugolds in the middle of the pack in WIAC play with their next conference game on Jan. 4 at UW-Whitewater.

“We’re obviously not satisfied . with how we played, but a win’s a win in this conference,” Ryan said. “We’re hopefully going to keep getting better.”