Falcons soar past Blue Devils in second half run

UW-River Falls 96, UW-Stout 77 | Photo Gallery | Video Replay

MENOMONIE (February 5, 2020) - UW-Stout played a solid first half, taking a nine-point, 50-41, lead over UW-River Falls into the locker room at intermission. But the Blue Devils saw that lead disappear over the first five minutes of the second half as River Falls outscored Stout 23-2 and went on to suffer a 96-77 loss Wednesday at Johnson Fieldhouse.

Stout scored the first basket of the second half, but it was all River alls for the next five minutes until Jon Ciriacks stopped the bleeding with a 3-pointer at 15:11. 
 
Julian Jackson scored eight points in the run, while Jake Reeck scored five points, Austin Werdin four points and Bryce Phillips and Jack Stensgard each connected with a 3-pointer. The Falcons (11-9, 4-5 WIAC) hit three 3-pointers in the run that lasted four minutes that erased Stout's 50-41 halftime lead.

The Blue Devils (5-15, 1-8 WIAC) enjoyed success in the first half, shooting 51.4 percent (19-37) before the break. Marcus Hll led Stout with 11 first half points and Ciriacks had 10. Stout forced a couple of shot clock violations in the first half and outscored the Falcons 22-14 in the paint.

The second proved to be a different animal for the Blue Devils, who scored 27 points and shot 29.4 percent (10-34). For the game, Stout shot 40. percent (29-71). The Falcons turned their fortunes around after the halftime talk. River alls shot 43.8 percent (14-32) in the first half and 63.3 percent (19-30) in the second half to finish at 53.2 percent (33-62). River Falls led 43-32 off the glass
 
The Falcons' Noah Hanson led all scorers with 21 points. Stensgard finished with 19 and Jackson and Werdin each had 15 points.
 
Ciriacks led Stout with 15 points. Hill finished with 13, Cliff McCray 12 and TYreese Alexander 11. 

The Blue Devils will host UW-Platteville, Saturday, Feb. 8 at 3 p.m.