Thu 6-Dec-2001

Whitewater claims 72-71 victory in thriller at Quandt
By JESSE HORNE
Journal staff

STEVENS POINT -- The UW-Stevens Point men's basketball team built a 12-point lead against Whitewater Wednesday and was poised to win its eighth straight game of the 2001-02 season. But the lead faded away and the Pointers had to fight to stay with the Warhawks -- last year's co-champion with UW-SP.

Trailing by one point with 6.9 seconds remaining, Neal Krajnik attempted to pass the ball downcourt for the potential winning basket. But he missed his mark and the Warhawks emerged with a 72-71 victory.

"I would love to take our chances with the look on the last play," said UW-SP head coach Jack Bennett. "Neal gave it up a little prematurely and I'd like to have the point guard to push it as deep as possible.

"But, I would have liked to have seen what would have happened if we would have gotten off the shot," he said.

The loss is the first for the Pointers this season and they fall to 0-1 in the WIAC. Whitewater improves to 5-1 overall and 2-0 in the conference.

Josh Iserloth provided the Pointers with some much-needed experience on the court and finished as the game's leading scorer with 19 points.

UW-SP led 37-30 at halftime and increased its lead to 13 points on a 3-pointer by Kalonji Kadima, who finished with 16 points. With the Pointers lead at 57-45, Whitewater mounted a 16-2 run to take a 61-59 lead with 5:28 left in the game.

"I think that sometimes you have to give credit to where credit is due," Bennett said. "They made more big plays in the second half than we did and that was the ballgame."

A jumper by UW-SP's Ron Nolting tied the game at 61-all, but it was followed by a three-point play by Whitewater's Aubrey Lewis-Byers. The junior forward finished the game with 14 points.

Trailing 69-65, the Pointers began to issue fouls to force Whitewater to hit free throws. The tactic seemed to work as the Warhawks made only three out of eight shots at the charity stripe in the game's final minute.

While Whitewater missed free throws, UW-SP rallied with back-to-back 3-pointers by Kadima and Nolting. After Krajnik's fourth personal foul, Jake Wolter -- who finished as the top scorer for the Warhawks with 15 points -- missed two shots at the free throw line, setting up the game's final play.

"I thought we just played on our heels and we didn't attack defensively in the second half," Bennett said. "However, I admire the fact that we gave ourselves a chance when it looked like we were out of it.

The road does not get any easier for the Pointers as they travel to Stout Saturday. Game time is set for 7 p.m. at Johnson Fieldhouse in Menomonie.