Tuesday, February 25, 2003

Pointers beat La Crosse in WIAC tourney opener
By Jerry Rhoden - Stevens Point Journal

The Pointers made the most of a home-court advantage earned through a season of doing what they did Tuesday night.

The University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point men trounced UW-La Crosse for the third time this season, 66-41, in the opening round of the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Tourn-ament at Quandt Fieldhouse.

The Pointers (24-2) will host UW-Oshkosh, a 103-70 winner over Stout on Tuesday, in the semifinals at 7 p.m. Thursday. The teams split their season series, with Point dominating its home date against the Titans, 79-60, on Feb. 19.

Point, ranked fifth in the nation among NCAA Division III teams and four-time defending champions of the WIAC, likely sealed a berth to the NCAA Tournament with Tuesday's victory.

"I'd like to think so," said UW-SP coach Jack Bennett, whose last trip to the NCAA followed the Pointers' last outright WIAC title, in 2000. "But our mission is to take away all the guesswork."

There was little doubt as to the eventual outcome Tuesday. Point opened the game 19-5, held La Crosse to 13 points in the first half and hassled Stevens Point Area Senior High alumnus Casey Taggatz, the leading scorer for the Eagles (6-20), into a seven-point performance.

"We defended so well tonight," Bennett said. "On the perimeter, we were outstanding. Casey didn't have any good looks."

Pointer forward Jason Kalsow went 8-of-11 from the floor for a game-high 16 points but injured his shooting hand just after the start of the second half. Kalsow went to the rim for a layup, got his arm jammed between the rim and backboard when the Eagles' Kyle Boland hit his arm, swung like a stoplight in a windstorm and crashed to the court as breathless as the purple-clad crowd that witnessed it all.

That followed a first half in which Kalsow, the WIAC's top freshman scorer a year ago, had his way in the post with La Crosse's Jason Scheunemann. Spinning into and away from the lane, Kalsow's gentle lay-ins always seemed to find the bottom of the net.

"I knew I was stronger than him," he said of his matchup, which repeatedly came after the Pointer offense isolated the two down low. "I think we knew that if we got too congested, they'd double."

It begged the question of how the undersized Eagles would match up on the 6-foot-7 sophomore, who pulled down 13 rebounds for his ninth career double-double and fifth of the season.

"We don't," first-year La Crosse coach Brad Nadborne said. "He's a complete player; a very versatile player."
Nadborne didn't feel the Pointers' impending rubber match with Oshkosh will end anything but well for UW-SP.

"We've played them three times, and their defense is just awesome. ... They're going to make a tremendous amount of noise, not only in this tournament.

"When push comes to shove, they've got the look. It's an intangible. I haven't seen anybody else in this conference with that look."

Senior center Josh Iserloth scored 10 points Tuesday and sits 27 from fourth place on the Pointers' all-time list, and Nick Bennett had 10 points in his return from a back injury that cost him the last four games of the season.