The UW-Eau Claire men’s basketball lost their second conference game of the year in a matchup with UW-La Crosse 75-59.

The Blugolds traveled to La Crosse in hopes of gaining their first conference win. Despite falling short head coach Matt Siverling said he thought his team competed and fought hard the entire night, but they know there are several areas they need to improve in.

“We got out to a slow start, and we turned the ball over too many times to start the game,” Siverling said. “We found ourselves in an early hole, but we continued to battle as we have all year.”

Due to their slow offensive start, Eau Claire was down by as many as 11 points at one point in the first half, but in the final seven minutes of the half, Eau Claire was able to rally back and trimmed La Crosses’ lead to only three points.

Sophomore forward Jacob Kohner, who scored a season high 12 points, said he thought his team played really well, and their run to close the first half was the result of their efforts.

“During the run, we were hitting our shots and we were able to make a few solid stops,” Kohner said.

The shots would not continue to fall for the Blugolds though as Eau Claire was outscored by 14 points in the final 17 minutes of the game by the Eagles.

Siverling said La Crosse is a very good shooting team, but his team left a good amount of points on the court.

“If you look at some of the shots we missed those are shots we are capable of hitting and we need to start making them,” Siverling said.

Another point of emphasis Siverling said is to improve free throwing shooting as the Blugolds shot 10-21 from the line.

“We also need to make free throws, because when they went on their run we were missing free throws,” Siverling said. “If we make free throws their shots aren’t as big because we would be able to keep it close.”

Kohner did his job at the free throw line, making two of his three attempts and Siverling said Kohner played a strong game overall.

“Our guys did a great job of getting Jacob the basketball, and he was also able to make some strong moves when he got the ball in the post,” Siverling said.

Also scoring from the frontcourt for the Blugolds was sophomore Kurtis Moody with nine points. He was also able to add another nine rebounds, and junior Lewis Mau scored 11 points while securing six rebounds.

Blugolds fall to Pioneers

The UW-Eau Claire men’s basketball team fell to UW-Platteville Wednesday night at Zorn Arena 71-56.

It was a tough night for the Blugolds as they shot 39.7% from the field and only made one of their 14 three point attempts.

In the first half it was all Platteville as the Pioneers scored 42 points while shooting 63% from the field and knocking down five three pointers.

The Blugolds struggled to get their offense in rhythm as they made only 9 of their 29 first half shots, and added four free throws for a total of 22 points.

Eau Claire played a stronger second half outscoring the Pioneers 34-29, while shooting 48.3% from the field. Sophomore Kurtis Moody led the Blugolds in scoring with 12 points.

Also reaching double digits was junior Lewis Mau with 11 points, and sophomore Adam Hjelter chipped in with ten.

The Blugolds will look bounce back this Saturday as they travel to Ashford Iowa for a 7 p.m game.