Kalsow Named WIAC Player of the Year;
Bennett Earns First-Team
Two of the highest scoring players in UW-Stevens
Point men�s basketball history both earned first-team All-Wisconsin
Intercollegiate Athletic Conference honors as Jason Kalsow earned the
league�s Player of the Year award and Nick Bennett was named to the team for
the second straight year.
The duo combined to score 3,324 points during the
past four years, leading the Pointers to the 2004 NCAA Division III
championship, three WIAC titles, two WIAC tournament crowns and a 98-18
record. Another senior who was part of that success, Eric Maus, received
honorable mention accolades. The Pointers are 24-3 this season and open NCAA
tournament play on Saturday.
Kalsow, a 6-7 forward from Huntley, Ill., earned
his third straight first-team honor and has started all 116 games during his
career. He is UW-Stevens Point�s all-time leading scorer and rebounder with
1,785 points and 840 rebounds. He also has a school record 703 field goals
made. Kalsow ranks among the leaders in every WIAC statistical category this
season, leading the league in scoring at 19.9 points per game, assists at
4.2 per game and three-point field goal percentage at 50.0 percent. He is
also third in rebounding at 7.2 per game and third in field goal percentage
at 57.2 percent.
Kalsow is a finalist for the Josten�s National
Player of the Year award and is the fifth UW-Stevens Point player to be
named the conference player of the year. The others were Brant Bailey in
2000, Jon Julius in 1992, Tim Naegeli in 1987 and Terry Porter in 1984 and
1985. He is the fourth three-time all-conference player in school history,
joining Bill Zuiker, Naegeli and Josh Iserloth.
Bennett, a 6-5 guard who played at Stevens Point
Area Senior High, ranks seventh in school history with 1,539 career points
and has made a school-record 212 three-pointers. He set a single-season
school record with 83 three-pointers a year ago and has made 68 this season
while shooting 42.8 percent from behind the arc.
Bennett is averaging 17.7 points per game to rank
fourth in the WIAC and is shooting 90.3 percent from the free throw line to
rank second in the league.
Maus, a 6-9 center from Green Bay Southwest High
School, ranks fourth on the team in scoring at 6.7 points per game and
second in rebounding at 4.9 boards per game. He shoots 58.0 percent from the
field and leads the WIAC in assist-turnover ratio by a wide margin with 54
assists and just 16 turnovers. The honorable mention award is the first
postseason honor of his career. |
