The Blugold men started the WIAC tournament Tuesday night with a win against UW-Superior, 83-76, at Zorn Arena.

The ‘Golds, the No. 4 seed in the tourney, beat Superior, the No. 5 seed, for the third time this season to advance to the semifinals for the second year in a row.

Tuesday’s win makes Eau Claire the highest remaining seed in the tournament.

“All of our kids played well,” head coach Terry Gibbons said. “It’s tournament time and our guys picked it up a notch. We need to keep winning and moving on.”

Senior Sherm Carstensen and sophomore Jason Larson shot a combined 14 of 26 from the floor to score 22 points and grab six rebounds a piece.

Senior Todd Marks hit all four of his three-pointers to finish with 14 points and seven rebounds. Sophomore Andy Witte added 11 points to the winning cause.

“We had a real balanced effort,” Witte said. “We feel like we have a real sense of urgency right now to get things done.”

In the first half, the Blugolds went on a 13 to one run to turn a 23-20 deficit into a 33-24 lead. Eau Claire went in at the half up nine, 36-27.

The ‘Golds opened the second half with a 17 to four run to go up 53-31 at the 13 minute, 47 second mark. The Yellowjackets followed with a 16 to four run of their own but couldn’t get close enough to close the gap.

“Jason Larson stepped up big for us and Marks hit some real big shots,” Carstensen said. “(Stout) played physical and threw a zone defense at us, which we didn’t expect, but we fought through it.”

UW-Superior was led by 6-foot-7-inch senior Vince Thomas who led the conference in scoring, rebounding and blocked shots and ranked second in steals.

Thomas torched the ‘Golds for a game-high 37 points and nine rebounds Tuesday. He also had three steals.

“We really didn’t come up with the answer on defense to hold Thomas in check,” Witte said.

The Yellowjackets out-rebounded the ‘Golds 38 to 28, with 17 of them coming on the offensive end. Eau Claire had only eight turnovers to Superior’s 15.

“Thomas killed us,” Carstensen said. “We did a good job of holding the rest of their team down. We just need to keep winning.”

The Blugolds will enjoy home-court advantage for the remainder of the tournament.

The Blugolds have won 11 of their 13 games this year in front of their home crowd.

Eau Claire will host rival UW-Stout at 7 p.m. today in Zorn Arena. Stout, the eighth seed, stung top seeded UW-Whitewater, 90-49, Tuesday.

“This tournament is life or death for us,” Witte said. “Every game from here on out will be huge.”

The winner of the single elimination WIAC tournament automatically advances to the 48-team NCAA field.

Gibbons said he almost couldn’t believe they were the highest remaining seed.

“It’s definitely to our benefit that we don’t have to travel,” he said. “Seeds don’t mean so much anymore in this conference. It’s time for us to take care of business and make it our advantage.”