WHEATON, Ill (blugolds.com) – The UW-Eau Claire men's basketball team fell to No. 9-ranked Washington University in St. Louis, 72-61 Friday night in day one of the Lee Pfund Classic hosted by Wheaton University.
The Blugolds (1-2) had the hot hand early in the contest after hitting its first three shots from behind the arc to take an 11-6 lead. But the Bears went on a run of their own sparked by back-to-back three's to take the lead. Washington U's bench then took over, scoring 17-straight points during a nine-minute stretch and took a 40-31 lead into the locker room.
UW-Eau Claire came back with a 12-3 run in the second half to cut the lead to 55-48. A Canan Stackpool (Jr.-Virginia, MN) three-pointer brought the Blugolds within six at 59-53 but the Bears' defense proved to be too much as they held the Blugolds to just 35 percent from the field in the second half.
The Blugolds had a balanced scoring attack, with four players scoring nine points, Jacob Kohner (Jr.-Bloomington, MN), Tyson Kalein (Jr.-Chippewa Falls, WI), Kurtis Moody (Jr.-Pequot Lakes, MN) and Lewis Mau (Sr.-Colfax, WI). Mau also led UWEC with eight rebounds.
The Blugolds will play Olivet College in the consolation game at 6 p.m. on Saturday.
