|
Lakeland Maintains
Early Lead to Hold Off Pointers
Box Score
UW-Stevens Point fell behind early and could never
recover as the Pointers dropped their first non-conference men�s basketball
game since 1999 with a 63-58 loss at Lakeland on Saturday in Sheboygan.
The Pointers had won 45 straight regular season
games outside the league since a loss to Edgewood in the 1999-2000 season.
In fact, the Pointers hadn�t lost a game during the month of November since
that same season when they were defeated by Northern Kentucky. Overall, the
loss snapped the Pointers� 10-game winning streak dating through last year�s
postseason national championship run.
The Muskies took an early lead and were up 12-11
with 12:11 left in the first half when they scored the game�s next nine
points over a span of 3:13 to take control. UW-Stevens Point trailed by as
many as 14 points at two different stages of the first half and was behind
36-24 at halftime.
Lakeland continued to hold its lead for most of
the second half and had an 11-point advantage with eight minutes remaining
when Brian Bauer hit back-to-back three-pointers to pull the Pointers within
49-44 with 7:09 left. Following a timeout, Lakeland went inside to Tyrone
Coleman, who scored to stop the Pointers� rally.
UW-Stevens Point could not close inside five
points until Jon Krull hit two free throws with 29 seconds left to pull the
Pointers within 59-55. Kris Saiberlich hit two free throws on the other end
for the Muskies and Krull was fouled on a three-pointer with two seconds
left. He hit all three free throws to make it 61-58, but the Muskies were
able to inbound the ball and Saiberlich connected on two more free throws to
seal the victory.
Krull finished with 20 points and Brian Bauer
added 15 for the Pointers, who struggled from the field all night. They
grabbed 17 offensive rebounds, but shot just 35.6 percent from the field.
Lakeland, on the other hand, hit 56 percent of its shots and had four
players in double figures, led by Germayne James with 14 points. |
