By Don Friday of the Stevens Point Journal

The University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point men's basketball team is developing a habit which could prove invaluable down the road.

For the third game in a row, the Pointers came out like gangbusters to start the second half, this time in a 69-44 victory over Dominican University of Lake Forest, Ill. At Quandt Fieldhouse Friday night.

The win advanced UW-SP (3-0) into the men's division championship game of the 14th annual Terry Porter Classic.

The Pointers will take on a familiar opponent, Mt. Senario College of Ladysmith (2-7) in the title game at 7 tonight.

Mt. Senario earned a berth by surprising Ripon College, 65-63. Ripon (2-1) will take on Dominican (0-3) for consolation honors at 3 p.m.

It took just six minutes of the second half for the Pointers to put the Defenders away.

To be more accurate, UW-SP started taking command of the contest in the final three minutes of the opening half.

Pesky Dominican was trailing just 22-20 when the Pointers went on a 8-0 run to end the half, climaxed by Kurt Hoerman's jumper from the top of the key with just one second remaining.

During the first six minutes of the second half, the Pointers, executing crisply on offense and using a stifling defense, outscored the Defenders, 17-7, opening a 47-27 advantage.

After that, Pointer coach Jack Bennett took the occasion to give plenty of playing time to all 14 players who suited up. The biggest margin was 26 points at 67-41 with 1:00 to go.

"I like what I'm seeing of this team, especially the way we're coming out to start the second half," Bennett said. "The guys are making the necessary adjustments and executing well on both ends."

Bennett felt the Defenders were a worthy opponent.

"I thought they were a pretty good team," he said. "They didn't give us anything easy, worked hard on defense and had some hard defense and decent size inside. We had to play."

Leading the way to start the second half for UW-SP was 6-4 junior Derek Westrum who nailed four straight shots and set the tone with his aggressive play around the basket.

Defenders' freshman standout Chris Watson, who tallied 11 points in the first half, managed just one the rest of the was as Bennett put defensive ace Dave Grzesk on 6-2 native of Moline, Ill.

"I do know where our bread is buttered defensively," Bennett said. "Not that Dave is going to shut everybody's top scorer down, but he makes them earn everything they get. Plus, we played real good team defense in the second half."

The Pointers continued to shoot the ball well despite going just 5 of 17 from 3-point range. Overall, however, UW-SP pressured the Defenders into 19 turnovers and doubled the visitors in assists, 20-10.

Eleven of the 14 players who saw action for UW-SP broke into the scoring column. Russ Austin led the way with 12 points while Grzesk and Dan Denniston added 11 each, and Westrum chipped in with 10. Westrum also had six boards while Denniston handed out five assists, one more than Austin.

Bennett, whose team turned the ball over just nine times, liked what he saw from his replacement players.

"They played much better than they did in Milwaukee last week," he said. "I told them that they had to earn my confidence and they did. We'll need that as the season moves along."

Watson and 6-1 junior Stacey Wingate led Dominican with 12 points each. Brian Schneider, a 6-7 junior from St. Louis, MO., came down with nine rebounds.

Bennett expects another strong challenge from Mt. Senario in the title game.

"They look good offensively with the capability of scoring a lot of points; especially if you are not ready to play," he said.