Lyssa Beyer

The men’s basketball team snapped a five game losing streak Saturday when it crushed UW-River Falls 77-54 in Zorn Arena. The last time the Blugolds won a game, it was against River Falls on Jan. 19.

“It’s encouraging (to get a win),” senior Dan Beyer said. “We’ve been on a losing streak and it’s broken now.”

Beyer had a big hand in getting the win, putting up a double-double with 17 points and 14 rebounds. The 14 rebounds is a career high for Beyer.

The Blugolds got off to a strong start, going up 15-1 in the first six minutes of the game. They increased their lead to 17 with just over seven minutes to play in the first half. The Falcons then went on a run, but the Blugolds held on to take a 34-21 lead going into halftime.

“That lead was huge,” coach Terry Gibbons said. “But we’ve got to put two halves together.”

Eau Claire struggled early in the second half, with River Falls cutting the lead to just eight points. The lead didn’t last long as the Blugolds went on a 16-2 run to build their lead to 50-28. The Blugolds continued to dominate the Falcons, at one point leading by 66-39. River Falls could not catch up, giving Eau Claire an easy 77-54 victory.

“It was a very good win for us,” said senior Zack Ryan, who watched the game from the sidelines due to a staph infection. “We haven’t been coming out intense enough, and the guys did that and it was enough to sustain for the win.”

Sophomore Colin Boone was out sick last week with the flu but played 18 minutes Saturday, while senior Zack Ryan remained out of the game.

Ryan said he is hoping to be in practice by the end of the week.

“I have to be off of it for five days,” he said. “So on Thursday we’ll see how it feels.”

“We had to ask kids to step up and they played solid basketball,” Gibbons said. “They don’t see the minutes, but they bring their lunch pail and go to work everyday and grind it out and make you a better basketball team.”

Beyer’s 17 points led the team while three other players hit double digits. Freshman Ryan Shea had 13 points, sophomore Jacob Schlub and junior Mark Tiefel each had 11.

The Blugolds will be back home Wednesday in Zorn Arena when they take on UW-Stevens Point. The men’s final home game will be Feb. 23 against UW-Stout, after they play UW-Platteville Feb. 20.

The men are 5-8 in the WIAC, and 11-11 overall. Ryan said the team wants to improve its standing in the WIAC, but that they aren’t focusing on it too much.

“We’re playing it one game at a time,” he said. “We feel if we play well we can beat anybody.”

Gibbons agreed.

“I really like what we are doing defensively,” Gibbons said. “And we are getting back to grind it out man-to-man defense. Now it’s nuts and bolts time.”