Thu 15-Feb-2001

A victory at River Falls gives Pointer men tie for first in WIAC
Journal Staff

RIVER FALLS Wins don't get any more important than the one the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point men's basketball team picked up Wednesday night.

The Pointer's 75-72 victory at River Falls, coupled with Eau Claires loss to Platteville, puts UW-SP in a four-way tie for first place in the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference.

The four teams tied for first in the WIAC, with 9-6 records, are the Pointers, Eau Claire, River Falls and Whitewater.

"A lot of people gave us up for dead, but we just didn't believe it. The way this league is going, I think teams who can really learn from adversity and success are the teams that are really going to do well," said Pointer coach Jack Bennett.  "The league has never been this balanced from top to bottom."

"We're a pretty good team right now, but so are nine teams in this league. Anybody who can survive in this conference ought to feel pretty good because of the competition week in and week out. There is no weak game in this league."

Previous conference leader Eau Claire was upset by Platteville by a 73-55 score Wednesday night.

For awhile, it appeared as if the Pointers would win easily against host River Falls. UW-SP built a 15-point lead (65-50) with about eight minutes left in the game.

River Falls mounted a furious rally, led by Kent Becker and Rich Melzer. In little more than six minutes, River Falls cut the Pointer lead to 70-69 on jump shot by Melzer.

UW-SP's Kalonji Kadima hit a 3-pointer to give the Pointers a four-point cushion with 13 seconds left. River Falls countered with a deep 3-pointer by Becker to again close within one point.

River Falls was forced to foul UW-SP three straight times to put the Pointers at the free throw line.

Brent Larson sank both free throws to give UW-SP its final winning margin.

"They (River Falls) came back strong. They had a couple of big-time players step up. Yet we had enough to withstand it," Bennett said. "They really made a charge, and their crowd was into it. I thought we really stepped up and showed a lot of courage."

The Pointers built their lead with a school record-setting performance from 3-point range. UW-SP hit a record 15-for-26 shots from beyond the arc, which included a 10-of-13 performance from downtown in the first half.

It was one of the great displays of 3-point shooting I've seen," Bennett said.

Larson and Rich Steif led the Pointers with 14 points each. Josh Iserloth added 11 points and Kadima chipped in 10.

Becker had the hot hand for River Falls with a game-high 27 points. Edmund Johnson scored 16 for River Falls and Melzer had 13.

The WIAC championship will be decided Saturday. The Pointers travel to Superior, Eau Claire plays at Oshkosh, River Falls hosts Stout and Whitewater hosts La Crosse.

Bennett likes the way his team has positioned itself heading into the final Saturday of regular season action.

"Now we've put ourselves in the position to perhaps gain a piece of the championship," Bennett said. "We still feel we're the underdog. Everybody had been chasing River Falls, Eau Claire and Whitewater all season. And we've basically come out of nowhere to sneak up on them. I like that feeling."

"I think we're a fairly dangerous dark horse right now."