Eau Claire–The Blugold men’s basketball team needed to fight just a little bit longer to edge out UW-La Crosse, but in the end the Eagles’ shooting performance and ball pressure was just too much.
After a strong first half, the Blugold’s were unable to outlast the bombardment of shots that the UW-La Crosse team put on them in the second half of their 69-84 loss last Saturday in Zorn Arena. Senior Nick Craggs said the difference of the game was the defense breaking down late.
“We started off strong, and it was a good first half.” Craggs said, “Our defense struggled down the stretch. We gave them a lot of wide open looks and we couldn’t top them.”
Both teams got off to a strong start in the first half, but the Eagles’ ball pressure bothered the Blugolds and the team struggled to get into a rhythm offensively. After a couple of early turnovers for the Blugolds, the Eagles got off to an 11-4 lead, forcing the Blugolds to take an early timeout. Head Coach Matt Siverling said the team knew the pressure was going to be there, and that they needed to be patient to get the offense going.
“They (La Crosse) have the ability to get out and pressure…even though that is going to happen we still need to run offense.” Siverling said.
Siverling said that as long as the team was patient on offense, the game would fall into place for the Blugolds.
“I didn’t think we forced anything…we let the game come to us.” Siverling said.
The Blugolds did just that. Sophomore guard Lewis Mau came up with a steal and breakaway dunk to cut the lead down to three. After a made shot by Nick Craggs and a charge taken by guard Jordan Peterson, the Blugolds got their first lead of the game, 17-16, with 7:31 left to play in the first half.
The half ended with senior Andy Kleist tipping in a missed shot at the buzzer to put the Blugolds up 32-27, giving the team all of the momentum going into the half.
The second half belonged to the Eagles. La Crosse guard Luke Tweed racked up 11 straight points in the first four
and a half minutes of the second half, switching the momentum to the away team, and the Eagles never looked back. Even with a career high 23 points, guard Lewis Mau said that the ball pressure and defensive breakdowns were just too much for the Blugolds.
“Whenever we have pressure on the ball, it kills us.” Mau said, “we couldn’t get our pick and roll game going.”
The Blugold defense began to break down late in the second half. The Eagles got open shot after open shot from the three point line, including three baskets in a row in the last five minutes. The Blugolds were unable to get the lead back and suffered their first loss in conference play.
The Blugolds are hoping to bounce back from the loss as they play at UW-Platteville on Wednesday, and then another road game at 19th-ranked UW-Whitewater on Saturday.
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