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Kalsow Hits
Game-Winner as Pointers Capture First National Championship
Box Score
An amazing postseason run was capped by an even more incredible
ending as Jason Kalsow hit a fallaway jumper before the buzzer to give the
UW-Stevens Point men�s basketball team an 84 -82 victory over Williams for
its first-ever NCAA Division III Championship on Saturday in Salem, Va.
The two heavyweights traded blows throughout the game, but UW-Stevens
Point stopped the Ephs as Tucker Kain missed a three-pointer and Eric Maus
ripped down the rebound. The Pointers didn�t call timeout as Tamaris
Relerford pushed the ball upcourt. Relerford passed to Maus, who passed to
Kalsow with two seconds left before his game-winning shot went through the
net with 0.2 seconds remaining.
The victory came exactly 20 years after UW-Stevens Point�s only
previous national championship game appearance when it lost to Fort Hays
State (Kan.) 48-46 in overtime on March 20, 1984. The Pointers finished with
a school record for victories with a 29-5 record and were making their
fourth NCAA tournament appearance, having lost to the eventual national
runner-up the previous three times. Williams won a dramatic national title
game last year and finished its season 30-2 overall.
�It�s just too hard to put into words how it feels to share it
with players like this and your son,� said Pointers� coach Jack Bennett,
whose son Nick was the tournament�s Most Valuable Player. �It doesn�t
get any better than this.�
�I thought our guys played so hard and with so much courage and
toughness,� said Williams coach Dave Paulsen. �This was like a prize
fight the way it went back and forth.�
Williams led 28-25 in the first half before Kalsow scored seven
straight points to start a 13-2 run for a 38-30 lead. Ephs� guard Michael
Crotty hit a three-pointer with 2:16 left and neither team scored the
remainder of the half as the Pointers led 38-33 at halftime.
UW-Stevens Point pushed the lead to 53-42 with 16:27 left on a
fastbreak layup by Kalsow. However, Williams made its first seven shots and
nine of its first 11 attempts of the second half, to cut the lead to 57-55
with 12:51 left. With the game tied at 65-65 with 8:35 left, Kain hit one of
his six three-pointers to give the Ephs a three-point lead.
Williams maintained the lead and another Kain three-pointer with 7:58
left put the Ephs ahead 71-66, but Nick Bennett started heating up for the
Pointers and hit several key shots down the stretch. One of Bennett�s
three-pointers with 4:24 left pulled the Pointers within 77-75. After
Williams pushed the lead to four points, Kalsow missed a shot, but got the
rebound and scored a three-point play to cut the lead to 79-78 with 3:10
left.
Bennett, who finished with 30 points in the title game and had 153
points in six tournament games, hit another big shot to put the Pointers
ahead 80-79 with 2:38 left. Williams responded with a three-pointer from
Chuck Abba with 1:39 left for an 82-80 advantage.
Kalsow scored a layup for the Pointers to tie the game with 1:17 left
and Kain missed a shot on the other end that Kalsow rebounded, but he landed
out of bounds to give the ball back to Williams. The Ephs ran the shot clock
down and Kain missed before the Pointers pushed the ball up for Kalsow�s
game-winner.
�Coach doesn�t call a timeout and that just shows the faith he
has in us,� Kalsow said. �I didn�t catch it quite as I wanted. It was
a little low. I saw him in my face and knew I had to get it high, so I put
it up and it went in.�
Kalsow totaled 24 points, nine rebounds and six assists. Kain had 23
points and Abba had 21 points. Crotty had 15 points, 11 assists and seven
rebounds for the Ephs.
For the Pointers, it was the end of a dramatic run with three
straight Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference tournament wins and
six NCAA tournament victories. The last five wins were all on the road,
including a halftime deficit comeback against Gustavus Adolphus and a
one-point overtime thriller against Lawrence.
�I�m proud of all the people who ever played for me or this
program,� Bennett said. �But I�m especially so proud of this group of
guys because they�re the ones that did it.� |
