EAU CLAIRE, Wis. – Fresh off a home win on Friday night, the University of Northwestern Men's Basketball team took to the road on Wednesday for perhaps the toughest test it will face all season: No. 22 University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire. UNW stayed within striking distance until the closing minutes despite once again playing without starting point guard
Will Foster (Eden Prairie, Minn./Eden Prairie), but a cold night, both shooting and on the boards, resulted in a 79-63 loss.
Noah Frazell (Waverly, Iowa/Waverly-Shell Rock) got off to a good start coming off a 29-point outburst on Friday night, scoring five of Northwestern's first seven points to stay within two. Leading scorer
Japheth Nyamari (Anoka, Minn./Anoka) returned to the lineup and scored the Eagles' next five points to keep the deficit at two, at 13-11, then a three-point play from
AJ Greene (Roseville, Minn./Concordia Academy) kept UNW close at 17-14. UW-Eau Claire was able to take an eight-point lead before Nyamari broke a scoring draught of over two minutes with a pair of jump shots. Back-to-back layups from
Jacob Hoefs (Highlands Ranch, Colo./Mountain Vista) and
Isaac Aune (New Brighton, Minn./Avail Academy) brought Northwestern within two at 24-22, but the Blugolds caught fire and closed the half on a 13-4 run to take a 37-26 lead.
UWEC scored the first five points of the second frame to extend its advantage to 16, but the Eagles were able to get it back to 10 after contributions from Nyamari, Hoefs,
Mateo Cortes Weiss (Monterrey, N.L., Mexico/Minnehaha Academy) and
Blake Dalluge (Rogers, Minn./Rogers). Eau Claire responded with an 8-0 run to take its largest lead of the night at 53-35, but threes from Frazell and Cortes Weiss got the visitors back on track. The margin fluctuated between 13-16 points for most of the second half as both teams struggled to score, and a 4-0 run from Nyamari and Frazell made it 72-61 with 3:13 left, forcing a Blugold timeout. But the hosts scored the next five points to thwart any comeback hopes, and won by a 79-63 score.
In a tough shooting night in which the Eagles shot 36.9% from the field and 19.4% from deep, they did have three players score in double figures. Frazell led the way with 17 and Nyamari 16, while Hoefs put up his second-consecutive double-double with 15 points and a career-high 13 rebounds, adding a team-high five assists. Greene pulled down five rebounds and dished out two assists, and Aune snagged seven rebounds. UNW lost the rebounding battle 49-34, but did go a perfect 9-9 at the free throw line.
Northwestern will be on the road once again on Saturday, visiting Carleton for a 3:00 PM contest.
