By Kyle Naber, UWEC Sports Information
EAU CLAIRE, Wis. (Blugolds.com)- The No. 17 ranked University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire men's basketball team defeated UW-Platteville 83-58 Wednesday night in front of a packed crowd at Zorn Arena.
After trailing 12-3 following the first media timeout, the strong Blugold bench gave the home squad exactly what they needed. Following a three-pointer from Chris Duff (Jr. – Walker, MN), it was the sparkplugs, Sean Miller (Fr. – Waukesha, WI/Kettle Moraine) and Andrew Duxbury (Sr. – Stillwater, MN), who would help Eau Claire gain the lead. After Miller hit a jumper to trim the Pioneer lead to four, Duxbury and Miller would hit back-to-back three-pointers to give the Blugolds the lead. The run continued when a Josh Weix (So. – Eau Claire, WI/North) dunk woke up the 500-plus student section, who made their return to Zorn Arena after classes resumed for the spring semester.
Before Platteville could even blink, their nine-point lead had suddenly flipped as they found themselves trailing in quite the turn of events. Eau Claire would ride the run to a 20-point lead before halftime.
The Blugolds would continue to challenge the Pioneers throughout the second half with their hot shooting. At the forefront was Duff, who has red-hot from beyond the arc shooting six of nine to give him a career-high of 22 points to lead Eau Claire to the 83-58 win.
Platteville's Robert Duaxe did all he could to keep the Pioneers in the game, matching Duff's 22 points. However, Duaxe was given no help as none of the four starts from the Pioneers managed to score in double figures.
Eau Claire also received high-quality minutes from George Diekelman (Jr. – Stevens Point, WI/SPASH) and Jack Martinek (Sr. – New Brighton, MN/Irondale). Diekelman finished with a double-double with 14 points and 10 assists, while Martinek added 12 points and three steals.
Duxbury's return to the lineup is a welcomed sight for Eau Claire as he played in his first game since December 11th at Wartburg College. The senior provides valuable minutes off the bench and is another leader for Head Coach Matt Siverling.
Miller has also continued to play well off the bench showing that he can provide valuable scoring in the second unit. Miller has averaged nine points per game over his last three games and is proving to be another threat beyond the arc.
Following the win, Eau Claire finishes the first round of the conference season with a 4-3 record and now sits in a three-way tie for second place, trailing No. 5-ranked UW-River Falls. The Falcons will be the team to beat in the second half of the season as they swept the first round going 7-0.
Eau Claire (14-4) will be back in action Saturday as they travel to UW-Oshkosh. When the Blugolds square off with the Titans it will mark just two weeks since they met the first time, where Oshkosh defeated Eau Claire 70-62. The Blugolds will look to keep their conference title hopes alive as tip-off is set for 5:00 p.m. Follow the action on Blugold Game Day.
