Saturday, February 8, 2003

Stevens Point beats Platteville, 73-62
Iserloth paces Pointers offense with 23 points against Pioneers
Central Wisconsin Sunday

PLATTEVILLE - The University of Wisconsin - Stevens Point men's basketball team improved to 10-2 in the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference and 19-2 overall with a 73-62 win at UW-Platteville on Saturday.

"We beat a real good basketball team.  This was a tough one," said UW-SP head coach Jack Bennett.  "I thought that, while we didn't control the entire game, we controlled enough stretches to basically take it from them."

In fact, the Pointers nearly let the game slip through their hands.  They had built up a 15-point lead midway through the second half only to see Platteville (9-12, 6-7 WIAC) march right back and cut the lead to four with 6:32 to play.

"There really was no panic on our player's part," Bennett said.  "I thought they kept their poise and knocked down some free throws when we had to."

Josh Iserloth finished with a team-best 23 points while Kyle Grusczynski had 19 points in a breakout game for the UW-Madison transfer.

"He came off the bench and really sparked things for us," Bennett said.  "His play and the overall performance of Neal Krajnik (nine points, five assists, two steals) was very crucial."

The win keeps the Pointers a game ahead of UW-Whitewater in the race for the WIAC regular-season title.  UW-SP will host the Warhawks on Wednesday at the Quandt Fieldhouse.

"It is going to be a classic WIAC battle," Bennett said.  "My first concern is that we get healthy.  At this stage of the year, we're going to try and play through it."

"They know what we're going to do and we know what they are going to do.  I think it is more of a mental thing than it is a physical thing.  A lot of it is going to come down to that ability to stay tough, find a way under pressure and hold our ground," he said.