The UW-Eau Claire men’s basketball team couldn’t get separation from the UW-Oshkosh Titans, losing the conference game by a score of 88-67 on Feb. 2 at Zorn Arena. The team falls to 8-13 for the season and 1-9 in conference play.

Second-year forward Carter Huschka led scoring for the Blugolds with 15 points. Also, fourth-year guards Cade Hall and Nolan Blair each chipped in with 9 points respectively. 

It was a tightly contested first half where the teams traded lead changes quite frequently and the Blugolds were only down by one at the end of the half. It wasn’t the same story in the second half of the game where the Titans started to get hot from the field, shooting 69% from the field in the second half of the game and began to separate themselves. 

Drew Maloney, a third-year guard, says that a successful game comes down to being able to put two halves of basketball together and being able to get stops defensively. 

“We’ve just got to come out with more energy in the second half,” Maloney said. “Piecing together two good halves of basketball is going to help us down the stretch.” 

Positive things to take away from this game include a strong defensive first half where the Titans shot only 37.5 % from the three-point line.

There’s always room for improvement in fixing mistakes that occurred in the second half of the game, according to head coach Matt Siverling. 

“We did some really good things during this game,” Siverling said. “We need to focus on doing more of those things and finding ways to eliminate those mistakes.” 

With the Blugolds only down by one at halftime, the Titans came out hot in the second half, going on an 18-11 scoring run in the middle of the second half. While the Blugolds struggled to find an offensive rhythm in the second half. 

“We are always trying to make the right play,” Siverling said. “When we do that and shots don’t fall, we need to find other ways to win games.”

While things haven’t gone the Blugolds’ way in conference play, Maloney says that it is crucial for the guys to stick together when the going gets tough. 

“We’re a close group of guys and have to be there for each other,” Maloney said. “I don’t have it in me to quit and I know my teammates don’t have it in them to quit either. If we’re going down, we’re going down swinging and we’re going to try and piece as many wins together the rest of the year.” 

The Blugolds, looking forward, will take on the UW-River Falls Falcons at 7 p.m. on Wednesday at Zorn Arena. 

Wednesday is also Garding Against Cancer to help raise awareness and funds to help assist individuals battling cancer across the state of Wisconsin. If you would like to donate towards the fund, visit brandtekusa.com/store/ecvrf. 

Mikalofsky can be reached at [email protected].