Friday, November 22, 2002

UWSP go on defensive

By Jerry Rhoden
Journal staff

The Pointers were in the zone, and their visitors had little answer for it.

The University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point men's basketball team forced 27 turnovers, including 16 in the second half, with a stifling zone defense that helped it to a 63-36 win over Upper Iowa in the Pointer Tipoff Tournament on Friday at Quandt Fieldhouse.

The Pointers (1-0) shifted to a 1-3-1 that put some of its quickest players - Neal Krajnik, Tamaris Relerford and Nick Bennett - either at the top of the key or along the baseline in locking down the Peacocks (0-1) shooters.

"When we got it inside, we had some success with it," UI coach Dave Martin said of the slashes to the basket that necessitated the Pointers' switch from an early man-to-man. "Our perimeter people just didn't do a good job of getting it in."

The adjustment was a step in the right direction and a bit of a relief, according to UW-SP coach Jack Bennett, who had been concerned about his team's zone play since a subpar showing in the annual Purple/Gold Scrimmage on Nov. 20.

"It's always the unknown before you actually see them play," he said, adding a preseason scrimmage provided some practice which turned out more valuable than he'd anticipated. "They ran a swing offense, which was exactly the same as (Division II) UW-Parkside in our scrimmage.

"We were stretched too far, and they had some backdoor cuts."

Senior Josh Iserloth played the Peacocks' Sharron Spain to a virtual dead heat in the battle of the centers, both of whom led all scorers with 15 points apiece, though Iserloth pulled down eight rebounds to Spain's seven.  UI out-boarded  the Pointers 39-37.

"I think we broke 'em down," said Iserloth, who went 6-of-16 from the floor but hit two of his four 3-point attempts.  "I was struggling.  I still haven't gotten my shooting legs back."

UI jumped on the Pointers for a 5-0 lead before Jason Kalsow and Nick Bennett combined for a quick 9-2 run that put UWSP up for good. 

Krajnik finished with 10 points and swiped a game-high four steals, including three after the Pointers turned up the pressure.

"It was just us being in the right spots and being aggressive," the junior guard said.