Saturday, January 4, 2003

UWSP dispatches La Crosse, moves to 14-0
By Jerry Rhoden
Central Wisconsin Sunday

STEVENS POINT - If it's possible for a team to go 14-0 quietly, the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point men did just that with their 70-43 win over UW-La Crosse on Saturday.

The Pointers (4-0 Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference) used three scoring runs to build an insurmountable lead over the Eagles (5-9, 1-4 WIAC). The first was a quick 7-0 spurt fueled by five points from Jason Kalsow.

"The first 10-12 minutes were poor," said Nick Bennett, who led all scorers with 18 points. "We shot a little too quick. They got too many easy looks."

The second came in the final five minutes of the first half as UW-SP struggled to work the ball inside despite a sizable height advantage over the quick, three-guard lineup of the Eagles.

"The guys in Pittsburgh were quick," point guard Tamaris Relerford said of the Pointers' recent two-game swing through Pennsylvania. He shared the floor with starting point guard Neal Krajnik as part of the team's "quick" package. "The last couple of games we've been seeing more zones. We're moving the ball quicker, more efficiently."

Kalsow spun into the post to touch off a 13-0 run that carried into the second half. He finished with 11 points and 10 rebounds - just the team's second double-double of the season - and dished out six assists, mostly from down low.

"I like to think that's my game," Kalsow said. "If I see a good shot I'll take it. But I'm not the quickest, not the strongest. I try to outthink my opponent."

The Pointers had to think of a way to slow the Eagles' initial onslaught, a perimeter game that powered them to a four-point lead five minutes into the contest.

"It's who we are, we're a good shooting team," first-year La Crosse coach Brad Nadborne said. "It'll keep us in some games. (But) their 1-3-1 took us a little out of our rhythm."

In the Pointers' first two runs, the Eagles missed nine shots and were outrebounded 6-3. In the third, an 11-point burst five minutes into the second half, UW-L missed six shots and was outboarded 4-2.

"We started to go inside a little bit," UW-SP coach Jack Bennett said. "Then our outside game started to open up."

Stevens Point native Casey Taggatz led the Eagles with 12 points and hit a pair of 3-pointers that would have been good in an NBA arena.