Iserloth Named First-Team All-West Region; Bennett Coach of the Year

    After leading UW-Stevens Point to its fourth straight Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference men�s basketball championship, senior Josh Iserloth and coach Jack Bennett both received regional honors from the National Association of Basketball Coaches.

    Iserloth was a first-team All-West Region performer for the second straight year, while Bennett was named the region�s Coach of the Year for the first time in his seven-year career. The Pointers finished 24-4 overall and earned an at-large bid to the NCAA Division III tournament.

    Iserloth is one of just 14 players in WIAC history to play on four conference championship teams. The Plymouth native was also a third-team All-Region selection by D3hoops.com and led the Pointers in scoring and finished eighth in the conference at 16.9 points per game. He scored in double figures in 24 of the Pointers 27 games, made a team high 40 three point shots and ranked second on the team in rebounding at 5.1 per game. Iserloth also finished second in the conference in blocked shots at 1.74 blocks per game.

    Iserloth was one of four WIAC players on the first team along with Rich Melzer of UW-River Falls, Tim Dworak of UW-Oshkosh and Aubrey Lewis-Byers of UW-Whitewater. Other first-team selections were Eric Wiebers of Buena Vista (Iowa) and Andy Gilbert of Bethel (Minn.).

    Bennett is just the second coach in the 90-year history of the WIAC to win four titles in his first seven seasons as a head coach. This past season, the Pointers became the fifth team to win four straight titles in the league�s history while making their third Division III tournament appearance in Bennett�s tenure. For his accomplishments, Bennett was recognized as the WIAC Coach of the Year for the second time in the past four years. Bennett sports a 142-48 record with the Pointers to rank fifth on the school�s all-time wins list.

     The West Region consists of 52 schools from the WIAC, Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference, Iowa Intercollegiate Athletic Conference, Northwest Conference, Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference and independent schools.

Basketball Teams Both Earn Postseason National Rankings

    The UW-Stevens Point men�s and women�s basketball seasons ended earlier in the postseason than both teams would have hoped, but they were still rewarded for outstanding regular seasons with spots in the final NCAA Division III rankings by D3hoops.com. Both the Pointer men and women were ranked every week of the 2002-03 season.

     The WIAC champion Pointer men finished the year ranked 12th in the country with a 24-4 overall record after losing to eventual national runner-up Gustavus Adolphus in the second round of the NCAA tournament. UW-Oshkosh finished the year ranked sixth and UW-Whitewater is 23rd.