La Crosse, Wis. - The University of Wisconsin-La Crosse men's basketball team fell 73-66 to UW-Eau Claire Saturday afternoon in Mitchell Hall.  The Eagles drop to 6-7 overall and 1-3 in the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (WIAC) while the Blugolds improve to 5-8 overall and 1-3 in the conference.

The game was tied 5-5 when UW-Eau Claire scored eight straight points to lead 13-5 with 13:39 remaining after a Jacob Kohner layup. The Blugolds later led 15-10 with 11:32 left when they went on a 18-2 run to take their biggest lead of the game at 33-12 with 5:05 remaining. Tyson Kalien scored nine points in the run. 

UW-L, playing its fourth game in the last six days, went on a 12-2 run of its own to cut the deficit to 35-24 with 1:44 remaining after a Jared Staege three-pointer. UW-Eau Claire led 37-24 at halftime.

The Eagles trailed by as many as 13 points in the second half at 39-26 with 18:58 remaining when they used a 10-4 run to make it 43-36 with 16:14 left after a Cale Zuikerthree-point field goal.  UW-L trailed 54-49 with 7:25 left on a Kenny Finco layup, but could get no closer the rest of the game. 

Leading 58-53 with 4:55 remaining, UW-Eau Claire scored five straight points on Kalien's three-pointer and Kohner's layup to make it 63-53 with 3:34 left. The Blugolds led 67-55 with 1:40 remaining before the Eagles cut the margin to 67-61 with :56 left.  UW-Eau Claire went 10-of-14 at the line in the final 2:03 to earn the win.

UW-L shot 38.6% from the field, including 28.6% (eight-of-28) from three-point range, and 66.7% (14-of-21) at the free throw line. 

Skylar Cameron led the Eagles with 21 points, finishing seven-of-12 from the field, including four-of-eight from three-point range. He was three-of-five at the line. Staege scored a career-high 16 points, going five-of-eight from the field, including two-of-three from three-point range, and four-of-seven at the line. 

Trent Schmidt finished with nine points and game-high 10 rebounds.

UW-Eau Claire shot 52.0% (26-of-50) from the field, including 42.9% (six-of-14) from three-point range, and 65.2% (15-of-23) at the line. 

Kalien led the Blugolds with 32 points, scoring 15 in the first half and 17 in the second half.  He finished 10-of-17 from the field, including five-of-seven from three-point range, and seven-of-10 at the free throw line.  Kohner finished with 10 points. 

UW-L returns to action Saturday, January 10 at UW-Superior at 3 p.m.