ST. PAUL, Minn.- The UNW Men's Basketball team battled against the Wisconsin-Eau Claire Blugolds on Tuesday night inside the Ericksen Center. The Eagles mounted a second half comeback that fell just short as they dropped the contest 79-74.

It was the visitors that delivered the first blow as the first six and a half minutes of the game belonged to the Blugolds. The Eagles did not score a point until a Caleb Waldeck (Newhall, Calif./Hart High) three pointer with 13:37 remaining in the first half. Eau Claire jumped out to a 10-3 lead.

The Eagles would play the Blugolds closer the remainder of the half, entering the locker room at halftime trailing 41-31. Both teams shot good percentages in the opening half. The Blugolds shot 44% from the field, and held the early lead due to their hot 46% three point shooting. The Eagles made their fair share of shots in the first frame as well, shooting 44% from the field and 42% from three.

The home team came out in the second half and began to climb their way back into the game. Good defense and some timely perimeter shooting helped the Eagles chip away at Eau Claire's lead. Finally, with four minutes left in the game, the Eagles cut the deficit to a single point, 65-64, with two free throws from Caleb Hoilien (Minneapolis, Minn./Hope Academy). However, this was as close as the Eagles would get. Eau Claire would answer with a clutch bucket, and would hold on to win the contest.

The game was a wire-to-wire, highly contested contest and the statistics proved to be the same. The two teams were nearly identical in many of the categories. Eau Claire shots 46% FGs, 34% 3pt, and 76% from the free throw line. The Eagles shot 46% FGs, 44% 3pt, 80% FTs. The possession battle was the key to success for the Blugolds as they had one more offensive rebound than the Eagles (11-10) and only had 7 turnovers to UNW's 11.

The reigning UMAC Player of the Week, Noah Alm (Forest Lake, Minn./Forest Lake), was spectacular shooting the ball for the Eagles once again. The senior followed up his 35 point effort nearly a week ago with 29 points and 5 rebounds in tonight's game. It was an efficient night for the sharpshooter, finishing 10-20 from the field and 3-6 from behind the arc.

Caleb Waldeck (Newhall, Calif./Hart High) had a nice night for the Eagles as well, scoring 11 points, pulling in 5 rebounds, and dishing out 2 assists. The senior point guard played 35 minutes and did not turn the ball over as he ran the Eagles' offense.

The Eagles will have some time to recover from tonight's physical game as they are not in action again until Tuesday, November 23^rd. UNW will head out on the road to face off against another WIAC foe, UW-River Falls.