Saturday, February 22, 2003

Pointer men cap regular season with win
Central Wisconsin Sunday

A long ride up will seem much shorter on the way back for the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point men's basketball team.

The Pointers wrapped up their regular season with a 71-61 win over UW-Superior on Saturday, knocking the Yellowjackets from a chance at the playoffs and putting the finishing touch on the team's fourth consecutive Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference championship.

UWSP (23-2, 14-2 WIAC) kept Superior (5-20, 1-15 WIAC) from edging past UW-La Crosse for the eighth and final seed in the WIAC Tournament, which opens Tuesday night.  (UWSP hosts La Crosse at 7 p.m. at Quandt Fieldhouse).  But that didn't mean the Jackets went quietly into the fog.

Trailing 6-2 early in the contest, they put together an 11-0 run to take the lead.  UWSP countered with an 11-0 run of its own shortly afterward to spoil Superior's only lead of the game.  The Pointers, who made the long trip early Saturday morning, shot under 50 percent for the game for just the second time in the team's last eight victories.

But energy was at a premium in the cavernous Wessman Arena, which drew just 287 fans.

"Superior is a necessary trip, like going to the dentist and having your teeth cleaned or pulled," said  Pointers head coach Jack Bennett, who hasn't lost at Superior since January 1999.  "I'd rather have a hostile crowd than a mausoleum."

The Pointers' bench resembled something closer to an infirmary by tipoff.  With regular starting forward Nick Bennett sidelined for his fourth straight game with a back that has refused to cooperate with treatment, starting point guard Neal Krajnik sat out Saturday's contest with a slight hernia.

"He said he could go," Jack Bennett said.  "But I decided to keep him out so he didn't get hurt more."

Auburndale native Brian Bauer and center Josh Iserloth felt fine enough to score 14 points apiece as five Pointers finished in double digits.  Ron Nolting added 13, and Jason Kalsow and Tamaris Relerford - starting in Krajnik's place - tacked on 12 each.

"He played a solid second half," Bennett said of Bauer.  "We needed guys like him to step up.  Ron and Tamaris are role players who played their roles very well."

Cody Kastern led the Jackets with 19 points, and Adam Maier added 10 as Superior outrebounded Point 33-26, the first time that's happened on the Pointers' eight-game win streak.

The Pointers went 19-of-40 from the floor and hit 27-of-34 foul shots.  They hit half of their 12 3-point tries, with Bauer, Iserloth and Nolting connecting on two each.