Sun 31-Dec-2000

Pointers win tune-up for Eau Claire
By JESSE HORNE
CW Sunday staff writer

UW-SP's Joe Zuiker fights for a shot over Wisconsin Lutheran's Kyle Borchert Saturday during the Pointers' 75-49 win in the Sentry Classic. CW Sunday photo by Sean O'Leary

STEVENS POINT - The schedule shows an important game for the UW-Stevens Point men's basketball team Wednesday when they host WIAC rival Eau Claire.

But before they could face the Blugolds, the Pointers had to match up against Wisconsin Lutheran College of Milwaukee - the five-time defending Lake Michigan Conference champions.

After a sluggish start, UW-SP regained its composure and defeated the Warriors 75-49 Saturday in the final game of the 29th annual Sentry Classic. The win improves the Pointers to 10-1 on the 2000-01 season.

The Pointers seemed disoriented at the start of the game with errant passing and numerous missed shots. But they benefited from nine quick rebounds and led the Warriors 6-3 six minutes into the game.

The distress from the miscommunication on the Pointer passes was clearly on the face of UW-SP head coach Jack Bennett.

"I think part of the reason we were rusty early on was the zone defense Wisconsin Lutheran threw at us," he said. "I'll take some of the blame in that I had seen them play a man-to-man in their previous game and I didn't make the change quick enough."

Josh Iserloth brought a spark to the Pointers in the first half with a slam dunk to give them a 16-13 lead. The slam literally brought the game to a standstill as the force of the dunk temporarily shut down the shot clock on top of the backboard. Iserloth finished with 11 points.

Joe Zuiker continued to keep the UW-SP attack alive in the first half when he found himself alone underneath the hoop for the easy layin. The basket gave the Pointers a five-point lead with just under five minutes to play in the first half.

Zuiker ended up as the top scorer for the Pointers with 14 points.

Two key first half statistics kept Wisconsin Lutheran in step with the Pointers. The Warriors made eight out of nine shots at the free throw line and forced seven steals to trail UW-SP 29-22 at halftime.

With an eight point lead early in the second half, the Pointers pulled away in part to the hot hand of Rich Steif. He had nine points in a 12-3 run for UW-SP to bring their lead up to 48-31.

Brent Larson iced the Pointer win with two straight 3-point shots in the corner. His second put UW-SP up 59-39 with just over 10 minutes to play in the game.

Despite their 10-1 start, Bennett knows his Pointers have many tough challenges ahead, beginning with Terry Gibbons' Blugolds - the team which forced the Pointers out of the playoffs last season.

"This will be the best that our league has to offer," Bennett said. "In Eau Claire, we are bringing in the consensus pick to win the conference and it is going to take us playing our system to the highest level we can in order to beat them."

Game time is set for 7 p.m. Wednesday in the Quandt Fieldhouse.