Sun 11-Feb-2001

Pointer men's hoops conquer Titans
By JESSE HORNE
CW Sunday sports staff

Brent Larson goes up to make a lay-up over Oshkosh's Nate Miller in UW-Stevens Point's 66-53 win against the Titans. CW Sunday photo by Renee Eismueller

STEVENS POINT - The UW-Stevens Point men's basketball team emerged from the locker room at halftime with a 31-24 lead in its Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference matchup with Oshkosh Saturday.

Still fresh in the minds of the Pointers was Wednesday's game at Eau Claire. UW-SP missed their first 12 shots of the second half en route to a 72-53 loss at the hands of the Blugolds.

The Pointers were not about to have history repeat itself as they unleashed a frenzied attack on the basket. With a sizable chunk of their scoring from behind the arc, UW-SP and defeat the Titans 66-53. The win improves the Pointers' record to 8-6 in the WIAC and 16-6 overall. Oshkosh falls to 6-8 in the conference, 14-8 overall.

"All I said to the team at halftime was to come out and play as hard as we can," said Pointer coach Jack Bennett.

After a 1-for-6 shooting slide at the start of the second half, Josh Iserloth drained a 3-pointer to put the Pointers up 36-30 with 14:28 left in the game.

He followed it up with two jump shots to raise the Pointer lead to 40-33 when the Titans called a full time out with 12:08 left in the game. Iserloth scored 18 of his game high 22 points in the second half.

"When Josh shoots well and allows the game come to him, that's when he opens up and can take advantage of the opportunities thrown at him," he said.

Jay Bennett was another player who stepped up as he awakened from his deep-shooting slump in the first half. After missing three shots form beyond the arc in the first half, he nailed a 3-pointer at the top of the key to raise the UW-SP lead to 43-36 with just under 11 minutes remaining in the game.

Bennett finished with eight points.

"We had guys that really stepped up and made pressure plays tonight for us," Bennett said. "When we can get that, we are a dangerous as any other team in this league."

The Pointers will play their final two conference games of the season on the road. They will travel to River Falls Wednesday for a 7 p.m. tilt before concluding the 2000-2001 season Saturday at 3 p.m. in Superior.