EAU CLAIRE, Wis. (Blugolds.com) - Despite leading for the first five minutes, the UW-Eau Claire men's basketball team couldn't hold on and fell 74-62 to UW-Whitewater at Zorn Arena today.

The Blugolds opened the game with a 4-0 run and built a seven point advantage just over three minutes into the game while allowing Whitewater to score just once. But Eau Claire's lead quickly evaporated as the Warhawks used a 12-0 run to take a five point lead with 12 minutes left in the first.

Whitewater and Eau Claire went back and forth over the next few minutes and the Blugolds closed the gap to just three points with nine minutes left in the half. Whitewater then went on an 8-0 run to make the score 25-14 but the Blugolds were able to get back within seven points by halftime.

The Warhawks came out strong in the second half and outscored the Blugolds 13-4 over the first six minutes to reach a 16-point advantage, their largest lead of the game. The closest the Blugolds would get the rest of the way was seven points with less than three minutes to play.

In the 12-point loss, three Blugolds reached double-figures in scoring, led by Amadou Fofana (Sr.-Appleton, Wis./West) with 22 points. Marcus Ruh (So.-Green Bay , Wis./Bay Port)finished with 19 points and Nick Craggs (So.-Kimberly, Wis./Kimberly/UW-Whitewater), who led the Blugolds in rebounding with six, scored 13 points. Only two others scored points for the Blugolds today.

The Blugolds outshot the Warhawks 58.7 percent (27-for-46) to 47.3 percent (26-for-55) and outrebounded them 25-23 but Whitewater scored 10 more points than the Blugolds from the free throw line (15-5).

Eau Claire drops to 8-7 overall and 3-4 in the conference while Whitewater improves to 11-5 on the season and 4-3 in conference play.

Wednesday the Blugolds head to Stevens Point to face UW-Stevens Point. Action is set to get underway at 7 p.m.