Thu 25-Jan-2001

UW-SP men's rally falls just short
By Jesse Horne
Journal staff

UW-SP's Josh Iserloth, right, powers to the hoop Wednesday night at Quandt Gym. (Journal photo by Doug Wojcik)

The Webster's Dictionary defines valiant as "resolute and determined."

Perhaps the definition should be accompanied with a picture of UW-Stevens Point's Neal Krajnik after his performance Wednesday.

Down by 18 points midway through the second half, the freshman guard led a scoring assault which brought the Pointers to within two points. But, their rally fell short as they lost to the Warhawks 66-62.

"If we have more players like Neal Krajnik, we'll be a tough ballclub," UW-SP head coach Jack Bennett said. "He does not back down and he defends hard."

Krajnik was flawless on the floor as he sank all four of his shots - three from long range - and two free throws to finish with 13 points.

The loss drops the Pointers' record to 5-5 in the WIAC and 13-5 overall. With River Falls taking the night off, Whitewater moves into a half-game lead in the conference with a 7-3 WIAC record (14-4 overall).

The Pointers trailed Whitewater 49-31 with 10:22 left in the game when Jay Bennett began the Pointers slow rise back with a 3-pointer to trim the deficit to 15.

After four free throws and layups by Kalonji Kadima and Josh Iserloth, Brent Larson drained a 3-pointer to bring UW-SP to within two (56-54) with just more than three minutes to play.

The tandem of Andre Hicks and Aubrey Lewis-Byers maintained the lead for Whitewater with a series of layups and free throws. Lewis-Byers, the game's leading scorer with 21 points, was the only player for the Warhawks to approach the charity stripe as he hit 11 out of 14 free throws.

With two minutes to play, Josh Iserloth found the seam toward the basket and scored to bring the score up to 60-58. The Warhawks answered with a similar lay-up by Hicks and the lead was back up to 62-58.

Larson followed up with a tough layup against the Whitewater defense to bring the score to 62-60 with 58.4 seconds remaining in regulation.

On the ensuing possession by the Warhawks, Hicks ate up the shot clock and hit a finger-roll to keep the Whitewater lead at four points with 20 seconds left in the game.

Despite several shots, UW-SP was unable to convert and Whitewater regained possession with 18.5 seconds. 

The Pointers will take the weekend off and return to action next Wednesday when they host La Crosse. Game time is 7 p.m. at the Quandt Fieldhouse.