Friday State Sports Briefs: UWEC looking for new hoops coach

• UW-Eau Claire Blugolds

UW-Eau Claire Blugolds

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EAU CLAIRE - For the second spring in a row, UW-Eau Claire is looking for a new men’s basketball coach. Kyle Green is resigning, effective April 16th. He said yesterday that his family decided to move back to Iowa, which they consider their home.

Green came to Eau Claire last May from the University of Northern Iowa, where he was an assistant coach of the Division-One Panthers for seven of their previous 11 years. In his lone season at Eau Claire, Green led the Blugolds to a 15-10 overall record and a 7-9 mark in the WIAC. They had just barely missed the conference tournament.

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Kevin Borseth said he left a successful Michigan program after five years because he wasn’t happy – and the lifestyle at Ann Arbor didn’t fit him. Borseth is returning as the coach of the UW-Green Bay women’s basketball team – the team he left in 2007 to join the Wolverines. He was introduced at a news conference yesterday. Green Bay athletic director Ken Bothof called Borseth after Phoenix coach Matt Bollant left for Illinois last week. Borseth said his family urged him to do what he needed to be happy – even if meant returning to a smaller conference with a smaller paycheck. Borseth coached at Green Bay from 1998-through-’07 – and his teams made the post-season in all nine of those years. But Bollant took the program even further, as the Phoenix made the NCAA Sweet-16 last year for the first time. Borseth left some big shoes to fill five years ago – and he says those shoes are even bigger now.

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UW-Milwaukee claimed three-of-the-four weekly track-and-field honors in the Horizon League. Dexter Schleis, a sophomore, was named the league’s male track athlete of the week. He shattered the Milwaukee school record in the 400-meter hurdles with a time of :52.86 seconds. Garrett Vetesnik of the Panthers won the men’s weekly field award, with a leap of 16-feet, four-and-three-quarter inches in the pole vault. Calanetta Burrows of UWM was named the women’s track athlete-of-the-week in the Horizon League. She had the fourth-fastest time in Milwaukee history in the 100-meter hurdles, with :14.02 seconds. Also, two Valparaiso golfers from Wisconsin received weekly Horizon League honors – Kyle Henning of Brookfield and Erika Pfaender of Pewaukee.

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Milwaukee Bucks’ forward Ersan Ilyasova could be in for a huge pay-day this summer. The 6-10 power forward from Turkey will become a free agent, unless the Bucks give him a new contract before then. Ilyasova is in the final season of a three-year, seven-million-dollar deal – and he’s definitely performing like somebody in his “contract year.” He has started 32 of Milwaukee’s 51 games. And he leads the Bucks with almost nine rebounds a game, while averaging around 13 points in 27-and-a-half minutes. Ilyasova is shooting 49-percent from the floor, and 42-percent from three-point range. Those are much better than his percentages from a year ago, when he only hit 29-percent from beyond-the-arc. In February, Ilyasova became only the third player in Bucks’ history to get 25 points and 25 rebounds in the same game. He says he wants to be on a winning team – but for now, all he’s thinking about is helping the Bucks get to the playoffs. They’re one-and-a-half games behind New York for the eighth-and-final post-season spot in the Eastern Conference. The Bucks will try to gain some ground tonight when they host Charlotte.

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Milwaukee Bucks’ center Drew Gooden sat out of practice yesterday with his sore right back. But forward Carlos Delfino took part in the workout, after missing five games with an injured right groin. Gooden left early during Monday night’s victory at Washington, and he missed Wednesday night’s home win over Cleveland. Both he and Delfino hope to return tonight, when the Bucks host Charlotte. Meanwhile, the Bucks have dropped to one-and-a-half games behind New York for the final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference. The Knicks gained ground with a 96-80 win at Orlando last night. Carmelo Anthony had 19 points and eight rebounds for New York.

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NASCAR has the Easter weekend off, as usual. And that gives the Wisconsin drivers a chance to spend some time with their families. Matt Kenseth of Cambridge is in fourth place in the Sprint Cup season point standings, with 6-of-the-year’s-36 races behind him. Paul Menard of Eau Claire is 14th. The Sprint Cup Series resumes next Saturday with the Samsung Mobile-500 at Fort Worth Texas. In the Nationwide Series, Danica Patrick – who was born in Beloit and raised in nearby Roscoe, Illinois – is 17th with five of 33 races completed. Tim Schendel of Sparta is 26th in his first year on the circuit as a full-timer. Their next race is a week from tonight in Fort Worth, the O’Reilly Auto Parts-300. In the Camping World Truck Series, Johnny Sauter of Necedah has some catching up to do. The perennial title contender is 27th in the point totals after two Truck events. There are 20 left, starting with the Good Sam Roadside Assistance-200 a week from Sunday in Rockingham North Carolina.

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The Minor League Baseball season is underway – and that includes two Wisconsin teams in the Class-“A” Midwest League. The Wisconsin Timber Rattlers, an affiliate of the Milwaukee Brewers, lost their opener to Cedar Rapids last night, 7-2 near Appleton. Austin Wood struck out 10 for Cedar Rapids. The Beloit Snappers also lost at home to Peoria 5-2. The Chiefs scored four times in the third inning to seal their victory. Beloit continues as an affiliate of the Minnesota Twins. Wisconsin will host Cedar Rapids again tonight and tomorrow afternoon. Beloit has the same schedule against Peoria at home. The entire Midwest League is idle on Easter Sunday.

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The Milwaukee Admirals gained another point in their American Hockey League playoff run last night, with a 4-2 victory at Charlotte. The Admirals now trail Houston by just one point for the eighth-and-final post-season spot in the league’s Western Conference. For the second straight game, Milwaukee scored three times in the second period. Teemu Laakso, Chris Mueller, and Taylor Beck all lit the lamp in the middle 20 minutes. The Admirals’ defense ended a string of 31 penalties killed when Charlotte scored on a power play in the first period. Milwaukee has picked up 11 team points in its last eight games. They’ll play at San Antonio tomorrow night.

Tags: wisconsin sports, western wisconsin, sports, proam, bucks