Fri, Feb 22, 2002

Pointers ousted from WIAC tournament
By JESSE HORNE
Journal staff

The two words the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point men's basketball team was saying after Thursday's WIAC semifinal with Whitewater were not "Conference finals", but "What happened?"

The Pointers squandered a 14-point halftime lead and Aubrey Lewis-Byers controlled the momentum for the Warhawks during an 80-73 upset victory.

Lewis-Byers scored 24 of his game-high 32 pints in the second half and hauled in 11 rebounds, seven on offense.

"Their money player stepped it up," said UW-SP head coach Jack Bennett. "I am very disappointed in that I thought Byers took it to our interior players. Whoever he was matched up on, he physically wore them down."

Whitewater (21-6) advances to Saturday's WIAC final against conference co-champ Oshkosh, while UW-SP (21-6) is all but eliminated from any hope of reaching the NCAA Division III Tournament, according to Bennett.

"I thought that we had to win tonight to get a shot at going," Bennett said. "With both Oshkosh and Whitewater in the final, a lot of things would have to break our way.

"It is disappointing, but those are the rules we play by in the national scene," he said.

The momentum was with UW-SP at halftime. Neal Krajnik, who finished with a team-high 16 points, nailed a 3-pointer with 4 seconds to play to put the Pointers on top 41-27 at the break.

Only one word from Whitewater head coach Pat Miller completely explained his team's performance during the final 20 minutes - patience.

"We really got on them at halftime. It was probably the most upset I have been with this team all year," Miller said. "They responded well and what we tried to emphasize was we are not going to get it all on one possession.

"Our first goal was to get it under 10 and then get it to five and go from there," he said.

Whitewater emerged from the locker room and exploded for an 18-5 run. London Donlow sank a 3-pointer with 13 minutes remaining to cap the rally and cut the UW-SP lead to 48-45.

Lewis-Byers hit a jumper with 6:04 left to give the Warhawks a 58-57 lead. It was the first lead for Whitewater since the 14:38 mark of the first half.

Whitewater officially sealed the win in the game's final 40 seconds by hitting eight out of nine free throw attempts, while UW-SP missed four of its last five shots from the field.

Jake Wolter joined Lewis-Byers in double figures for the Warhawks with 14 points, followed by 11 from Damon Garrett.

Kalonji Kadima finished with 12 points for UW-SP while the team's two post players - Josh Iserloth and Jason Kalsow - each scored 11.

"We didn't get one of those stellar performances," Bennett said. "Josh did not have the three and I don't think we got inside the way we wanted to. Part of that is a credit to Whitewater in the way the defended and the quickness they have."

UW-Whitewater 27 53 - 80
UW-Stevens Point 41 32 - 73

WHITEWATER (80) - Lewis-Byers 13-18 6-9 32, Hodges 1-6 4-8 6, Donlow 3-9 1-2 9, Saunders 2-2 0-0 4, Wolter 4-8 4-4 14, Smith 0-2 0-0 0, Garrett 4-7 2-2 11, Hicks 1-4 0-0 2, Harden 1-1 0-0 2, Bossingham 0-1 0-0 0. Totals: 29-58 17-25 80.

UW-SP (73) - Iserloth 5-11 1-2 11, Kalsow 4-6 3-5 11, Krajnik 5-9 4-4 16, Nolting 3-5 2-2 9, Kadima 3-9 6-8 12, Relerford 0-2 0-0 0, Bennett 0-1 0-0 0, Mallett 2-2 0-0 4, DeVos 3-5 0-0 8, Maus 1-1 0-0 2. Totals 26-51 16-21 73.

3-Point Goals: WW - 5-13 (Donlow 2-6, Wolter 2-5, Garrett 1-1, Hicks 0-1), SP - 5-16 (Iserloth 0-2, Krajnik 2-5, Nolting 1-2, Kadima 0-2, Relerford 0-1, Bennett 0-1, DeVos 2-3). Rebounds: WW - 32, SP - 32. Personal Fouls: WW - 19, SP - 23. Fouled Out: none.