The hopes of the UW-Eau Claire men’s basketball team making the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference tournament took a serious hit Saturday afternoon after a 70-54 loss to UW-Stout at Zorn Arena.
Stout opened the game on an 11-1 run and never looked back. Their physical defense created all sorts of troubles for the Blugolds, as they only shot 32 percent from the floor while turning it over 16 times.
“The way that they play defense, it was really difficult for us to get back into the basketball game,” said head coach Mat Siverling.
Stout’s physical defense flustered and frustrated the Blugolds so much that senior starting point guard Jordan Petersen, fresh out of surgery to repair a broken nose he suffered earlier this season, chucked his protective mask into the bleachers.
Petersen, the team’s leading scorer, struggled to get comfortable in his first game wearing his protective mask. Siverling thought that affected his play.
“Give him credit, he’s going out there battling, fighting, and doing what he can,” Siverling said. “But anytime you have that big thing on your face, it makes it a little more difficult.”
Fellow senior Nick Craggs, just behind Petersen in points per game, scored 16 points and carried the offensive load.
“He (Petersen) was having a tough time tonight,” Craggs said. “So I kind of tried shouldering the load.”
Dustin Kalien aided Craggs in shouldering that load. Out of his 17 attempts from the field, 16 came from behind the arc and he netted four threes for a total of 12 points. He attributed the offensive struggles to Stout’s defense and said that led the Blugolds to force things that weren’t there.
“It was a struggle to get clean looks,” Kalien said. “There a great defensive team and there’s not much you can do besides making shots.”
The Blue Devils’ offense wasn’t too shabby either, as they got into the paint often, scoring 26 points there specifically, including a dunk by Jarvis Ragland.
Chris Hortman came off the bench to score 21 points for Stout.
Eau Claire battled back, as they cut an 18 point Blue Devil lead to 10 with 9:45 left to play in the second half. Kalien was proud of the effort, but disappointed they couldn’t battle all the way back.
“It seems like all year, we’ve been that team that gives other teams that tough time,” Kalien said. “But we want to make winning plays down the stretch and tonight we just didn’t make enough.”
Eau Claire, who lost UW-Platteville Wednesday night 75-65 in the final home game, will wrap up the season at UW-Stevens Point on Saturday.
No matter what happens, Siverling has enjoyed his first season at the head of the Blugold program, tabbing it as a special year.
Tip off will be at 3 p.m. Saturday at Quandt Fieldhouse on the campus of Stevens Point.
