UPSTART POINTERS STUN PIONEERS
By Don Friday of the Stevens Point Journal

They are already giant killers and approaching the status of the destiny's darlings.

First-year University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point men's coach Jack Bennett and his players can't be blamed for entertaining those kinds of thoughts, not after what they accomplished in the span of three days this past week.

The underdog Pointers, after knocking off No. 4 seed Pomona-Pitzer (Calif.) Thursday night on the West Coast, returned to the Central time zone and shocked top-seeded UW-Platteville, 46-43, in a West Region second-round game watched at Williams Fieldhouse Saturday night.

The stunning victory advances UW-SP into the field of 16 remaining from the starting cast of 64 teams. The Pointers will carry a 21-6 record and an eight-game winning streak into a 6p.m. Friday sectional semifinal matchup at Lincoln, Neb., against Mount Union College of Ohio (25-4) which beat Wittenberg (Ohio) on Saturday, 73-65. Host Nebraska Wesleyan University (22-5) will face defending national runner-up Hope College of Michigan (26-2) in the second game.

While the odds were stacked against UW-SP on Thursday, the task facing the Pointers against Platteville was even more challenging.

That's because the Pioneers, who had beaten the Pointers twice during the regular season, had won 72 of their last 74 home outings and were a perfect 5-0 at Williams this year. Under the 13^th-year coach William (Bo) Ryan, UW-P was 20-4 in seven NCAA Division III postseason appearances with national championships in 1991 and 1995.

What's more, the Pointers had lost eight straight games to the Pioneers and had not won at Platteville since earning a 75-59 victory on Dec. 9, 1986.

None of that mattered, however, when Dave Grzesk took backdoor pass from Dan Denniston and sank a reverse layup with three seconds remaining to give the Pointers a 45-43 lead.

"I looked over at Coach as I brought the ball out and he decided not to call a timeout," Denniston said. "We had no special play but just stayed in our motion offense."

"I saw 13 seconds left as I crossed the timeline and just tried to create something. I was able to penetrate the lane and at the last second saw Dave making a basket cut and got bounce pass to him underneath."

"I got around my man and Dan gave me a nice pass." Said Grzesk. "I just put the reverse layup off the glass with my left hand. I thought I got hit on the arm too but fortunately the ball went in."

It was too soon for the Pointers to start celebrating, however, because the Pioneers, as it turned out, had two more possessions.

After a timeout, UW-P threw a long pass into the front court which was picked off by Mike Paynter, who was fouled with 1.3 seconds left.

Paynter made the first of two free throws but missed the second, Platteville rebounded and called another timeout with six tenths of a second showing.

A final desperation pass into the front court was knocked away by Denniston as time ran out, setting the stage for a wild celebration by the Pointers and several hundred of their fans.

"This may go down as one of the most courageous performances of any team I've had in my 25-year coaching career, because of what these kids had to do to get here," Bennett said. "We beat an outstanding club. Platteville didn't lose this game. We won it. It's just too bad we had to be in the same region."

A low-scoring game was not unexpected. Under Ryan, Platteville led the nation in defense this season, allowing just 47.6 points per game. The Pointers also ranked among the national leaders at 55.8.

Both teams lived up to that reputation, magnifying the importance of every fiercely-contested possession.

In addition to holding UW-P 26 points under its season offensive average, UW-SP limited the Pioneers to 32.5 percent shooting on 13 of 40. Not even a pronounced free throw advantage - 16 of 18 compared to 4 of 8 - was enough for the Pioneers to overcome that.

The Pointers, by contrast, sank 19 of 37 shots for a blazing 51.4 percent, connected on 4 of 11 3-point attempts to a dismal 1 of 14 for the Pioneers, and had a 27-22 rebounding edge.

The Pointers stormed to a 15-4 lead with less than nine minutes elapsed by hitting sever of their first nine shots.

UW-SP, with Paynter and Denniston on fire, went on to build a 22-10 lead with 7:55 left before the Pioneers used the hot hand, mainly at the free throw line, of 6-3 senior Pete Stremlow to close the gap to 27-21 at the intermission.

As the teams were leaving the court, however, Bennett was slapped with a technical foul by referee Dave Kelliher.

It turned out to cost UW-SP four points, all free throws, at the start of the second half. Ben Hoffmann sank the two technical tosses and Jeff Borroughs made two more moments, cutting the Pointers' lead to 27-25.

"We had not sot a free throw the entire half and I thought (Jim) Danielson got hit in the arm as released the last shot," Bennett said. "When I complained as we were walking off, I got nailed with the technical. Dave is quick with that but I probably deserved it. I'm just glad we were able to survive it."

Platteville's only lead of the game, which followed a 9-2 run, cam when Merrill Brunson hit a short bank shot, making it 30-29, with 14:25 to play.

It was a see-saw struggle the rest of the way. Although there were four ties, the Pointers never trailed again after Denniston's driving layup made it 38-36 with 9:00 to go.

When Paynter drilled a baseline jumper and Denniston stole a pass and drove the court for a layup, the Pointers suddenly had a 43-38 lead with 5:05 left.

Platteville, however, came back as UW-SP turned the ball over several times, missed the front end of the bonus free throw situation twice and had to take a forced attempts with the shot clock winding down.

Denniston, who hit 6 of 10 shots, including tree treys, led UW-SP with 15 points and four assists. Paynter added 14 points, five rebounds and was an intimidating presence inside. Grzesk had six points and seven rebounds.

Stremlow, eight of nine at the line, scored 13 of his 15 points in the first half. Hoffmann added 10 but nobody else had more than six.