Thu 1-Feb-2001

Revamped Pointer men's lineup beats UW-LaCrosse
By Jesse Horne
Journal staff

UW-Stevens Point's Brent Larson beats the UW-La Crosse defense for a layup during their WIAC game at Quandt Gym Wednesday. (Journal photo by Doug Wojcik)

The UW-Stevens Point men's basketball team has had its share of disappointments in the past couple weeks.

The Pointers had lost three of their last four games and Wednesday faced La Crosse, a team which had won their last three games.

But UW-SP brushed away the past and performed as the defending Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference champions as they beat the Eagles, 80-61.

UW-SP moves up the rankings to 6-5 in the WIAC and 14-5 overall. La Crosse drops to 4-7 in the WIAC, 10-9 overall.

There was a slight change in the starting lineup for the Pointers as Neal Krajnik, who has been a key player off of Jack Bennett's bench this season, was inserted in place of Josh Iserloth, UW-SP's leading scorer. The move was made to counteract the quick lineup offered by La Crosse, Bennett said.

"With the lineup we had in there, we could rotate Joe (Zuiker) and Josh into the game," he said.

Bennett's move paid off early. Krajnik made a steal which led to the Pointers' first attempt at the basket. Iserloth performed well off the bench as he finished as the game's high-scorer with 23 points.

"Josh proved tonight that you don't have to be a starter to be a contributor," Bennett said.

La Crosse coach Stu Engen was impressed that he got UW-SP really thinking about the game plan of the Eagles, he said.

"I had heard rumors that they were going to do that, despite having started the same five guys all season," he said. "I told our team that for them just to do that made us think that they were concerned about something."

After several attempts by both clubs, it was the Pointers who scored first on two free throws by Jay Bennett with 17:21 remaining in the first half.

The Pointers were clearly in the driver's seat early in the game as they mounted a 15-7 run, which was capped off with a deep 3-pointer by Ron Nolting with just under 12 minutes remaining.

Casey Taggatz, a graduate of SPASH, nailed a 3-pointer to cut the Pointers lead to 23-18 with just under eight minutes to play in the first half. Taggatz finished with 14 points, including eight in the first half.

The thrill of returning to his home town was special for Taggatz, whose younger brother, Ryan is a junior for the Panthers.

"It is exciting to be back here," he said. "I am good friends with a lot of these guys, but I'm not necessarily their friend out on the court when the game is on.

"It didn't quite go our way tonight, but it really was good to be back here," he said.

Ben Bemis gave the Eagles their first lead of the game when he drew a foul and nailed both free throws and La Crosse led 28-27 with 4:15 remaining in the first half, capping off a 16-4 run for the Eagles.

The Pointers regained the lead on two free throws by Zuiker. Kadima followed up with a deep basket from beyond the arc and the Pointer lead was up to 32-28 with 2:30 remaining in the first half.

The Eagles attempted to trim the deficit, but were shut down by a block by Zuiker and the Pointers regained possession with a minute and a half to play before halftime.

With a three point lead, the Pointers maintained possession for the last shot of the first half. Zuiker responded with a drive to hit a lay-in and UW-SP took a 35-30 lead into the locker room at halftime.

La Crosse attempted a rally in the second half on the heels of Matt Schultz. He scored 12 of his team-leading 16 points in the final 20 minutes of action, including a pair of 3-pointers.

The Pointers return to action Saturday when they host Platteville on Alumni Night. Game time is scheduled for 7 p.m. in the Quandt Gym with an alumni game to precede the action.