EAU CLAIRE (January 4, 2011) - Try as they might, UW-Stout could only manage to get as close as an arms length throughout the evening and the Blue Devils lost to host UW-Eau Claire, 55-45, Wednesday at Zorn Arena.

The Blue Devils (4-9, 0-5) managed only minute leads in the early minutes of the game and once they fell behind, could never make enough of a run to threaten a lead.

The Blugolds (9-4, 2-3) built a lead that hovered near the 7-8-9-10 point range in the first half. Stout cut the deficit to five points, 22-17, with 1:36 in the first half on a 3-pointer by Steve Pax (So, Elmwood). Eau Claire answered with a 3-pointer by Jordan Petersen and carried a 25-17 lead into the locker room.

Eau Claire held an 11 point, 30-19 lead a minute into the second half, but a layup and 3-pointer by Alex Oman (So, Lake Elmo, Minn) cut the lead to 30-24. Stout got as close as five points, 35-30, on a bucket by Jay Higgins (So, Maple Grove, Minn) at 13:21 but the Blugolds would continue to hold Stout at bay, before jumping to a 48-38 lead with four minutes remaining. Only once the rest of the game would the Blue Devils get the deficit back under 10 points.

Eau Claire's Nick Craggs led all scorers with 19 points. Petersen tossed in 10 points.

For the second consecutive game, Stout was led by Oman, who was the only Blue Devil in double digits with 17 points. Steve Pax finished with nine points. Stout hurt their own cause by cold shooting, hitting 19-of-63 shots (30.2 percent) from the floor and 3-of-14 from 3-point range (21.4 percent).

The Blugolds hit on 21-of-43 shots from the floor (48.8 percent) and 7-of-19 from beyond the arc (36.8 percent).

Stout did hold a slight edge off the glass, pulling down 38 rebounds to Eau Claire's 34. Stout's Higgins and Eau Claire's James Pfitzinger each had eight rebounds.

Stout will be at Gustavus Adolphus, Saturday, Jan. 7, then will be home to host UW-Stevens Point, Wednesday, Jan. 11 at 7 p.m.