Wednesday, February 19, 2003

Pointers send a message
Titans no match in second go-around
By Jerry Rhoden - Stevens Point Journal

It was enough to leave any coach speechless.

The University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point men trounced UW-Oshkosh 79-60 in a game that was never that close Wednesday to avenge the last game the Pointers lost on their way to a fourth straight Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference championship.

UW-SP (22-2, 13-2 WIAC) led by about 30 points for much of the game, including a 48-17 halftime lead built on torrid 69 percent field-goal shooting by the Pointers and nine turnovers and 24 percent shooting by the Titans.

UW-Oshkosh coach Ted Van Dellen refused to comment after the contest, but his intense jawline set in a splayed collar and unraveled tie said a mouthful.

The Titans (18-6, 9-6 WIAC), facing a team it had beaten by four points and fighting for the second seed in the upcoming WIAC Tournament, were not supposed to lose like this.

"I'd like to think it had something to do with our defense," said UW-SP coach Jack Bennett, who was ejected seven minutes into the second half for the first time in his career. "Every shot they took we challenged."

Bennett was arguing what could have been a foul on Oshkosh's Andy Fernholz, who undercut the Pointers' Josh Iserloth under the basket and sent the big center crashing hard to the floor. One technical foul quickly led to another, which led to the exit for Bennett.

"I'll never apologize for fighting for my players," he said later. "But I didn't want to detract from the game."

"It's definitely a challenge to keep the momentum going from the first half," said assistant coach Ken Koelbl, who took over after Bennett's departure. "We basically just emphasized the effort. Try to match the execution."

Iserloth executed the Titans in the scorebook, leading all scorers with 23 points on 7-of-9 shooting, including 4-of-5 from the 3-point line. He became the sixth player in UW-SP history to clear the 1,500-point barrier and moved up to fifth on the all-time scoring list. He's 41 points behind fourth-place Tom Ritzenthaler.

"I wanted to make a statement," said Iserloth, who was the sole honoree prior to the game on Senior Night. "The last time we played them, it wasn't our best effort.

"This was a complete team game."

Jason Kalsow put up 22 points and grabbed 10 rebounds. The sophomore forward has accounted for four of the team's five double-doubles this season.

"Jason Kalsow started fast down low," Koelbl said. "And that opened up our perimeter."

Bennett cited the Pointers' Jan. 22 loss to the Titans as a watershed game that showed him how his team was crowding the lane, congesting its own passing lanes.

"We learned a lot from that last defeat," said the coach, who implemented the team's current spread philosophy immediately thereafter.

In spreading the floor, UW-SP has freed up passing lanes underneath to Iserloth and Kalsow and loosening up opponents' perimeter defense. As a result, the Pointers have hit at least 50 percent of their field goals in six of the seven games that followed that loss.

"We ran our motion wider, and that opened up the middle," said the 6-foot-6 Kalsow, who appeared to have his way in the post with the 6-3 Fernholz. "They probably thought that looked good because I struggled the last time. I think I went 6-of-16.

"We had every reason to come out (lackadaisical). We'd already wrapped up the conference ... the top seed. But we wanted Josh to have a big night on Senior Night."

Iserloth and Co. also contributed on the defensive end, consistently doubling down on 2001-02 WIAC Player of the Year Tim Dworak in the post to hold him to 16 points.

"When he gets near the basket, it's probably going to go in," said Iserloth, who posted hard on Dworak and flustered the 6-7 forward into six points on 3-of-9 first-half shooting.

NOTES: UW-SP will close out its regular season Saturday at Superior before hosting the opening round of the WIAC tourney Tuesday, most likely against UW-La Crosse. ... Auburndale's Brian Bauer started in place of Nick Bennett, the team's second-leading scorer who missed his third game with a bad back. ... UW-Oshkosh dropped from the second seed by virtue of UW-Whitewater's win Wednesday. The Titans will need to beat La Crosse and root for Whitewater to beat Stout on Saturday if the Titans are to hold onto the third seed.