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Pointers Suffer
Second Straight Defeat at Clarke
Box Score
For just the fourth time in the past seven
seasons, the UW-Stevens Point men�s basketball team suffered consecutive
defeats as the Pointers lost for the second time in an 18-hour span with a
73-67 setback to Clarke on Saturday in the third place game of the Clarke
tournament in Dubuque, Iowa.
The Pointers fell to 7-4 for the season with the
loss coming shortly after a defeat to MidAmerica Nazarene (Kan.) on Friday,
marking the first time they�ve lost on back-to-back days since Feb. 17-18,
1995.
UW-Stevens Point struggled from the field for the
second straight day, shooting just 38.3 percent in the loss, including
eight-for-28 from three-point range. The Pointers played without senior
forward Brian Bauer, who was injured.
Neither team held bigger than a four-point lead in
the first half until Jon Krull hit a pair of free throws to put the Pointers
ahead 28-22 with 55 seconds left. However, Clarke answered with a basket by
Sam Murley and then Brian Harris hit a halfcourt shot at the buzzer to pull
the Crusaders within 28-27 at intermission.
The second half started out tight as well before
Clarke scored nine straight points to take a 46-38 lead with 11:56 left in
the game. UW-Stevens Point managed to trim the lead to 48-45 with 9:21 left,
but the Crusaders scored the next seven points as UW-Stevens Point came no
closer than eight points until a basket in the final seconds.
Steve Hicklin had career highs in every category
with 22 points, eight assists and seven rebounds. Jon Krull added 15 points
and eight assists.
DeMonte Bynum led Clarke with 19 points. Grant
Cirks and Sam Murley each added 12 points. |
