By Don Friday of the Stevens Point Journal

Little went right for the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point men's basketball team in the closing minutes Wednesday night.

UW-Eau Claire, leading by just three points with 47 seconds remaining, took advantage of a late flagrant foul and technical foul by the Pointers to hit six free throws down the stretch to pull away for a 68-59 win at Zorn Arena.

The victory, which avenged a double-overtime loss to UWSP earlier, allowed UWEC to clinch third place in the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference with a final 10-6 record and 18-7 overall.

The loss dropped the Pointers into a fourth-place tie with Whitewater at 8-7. Now 16-8 overall, UWSP will conclude its season at Stout on Saturday night. "We had great effort, laid it on the line and played hard enough to win, but we were not good enough to play through some of the calls that went against us down the stretch," said an upset UWSP coach Jack Bennett.

It was an uphill battle for UWSP after Eau Claire surged to a 10-0 lead in the first four minutes. The Pointers, however, fought back and closed to 27-26 by halftime.

The Blugolds, led by the deadly outside shooting of senior guard Andy Fisher, started the second half in the same fashion as the first. Fisher's 3-pointer opened a 48-36 lead with 10 minutes remaining.

UWSP, led by Brant Bailey and Derek Westrum, closed to 49-48 with 4:35 left but could never gain the lead. Another trey by Fisher gave the Blugolds a 61-52 lead with only 1:25 left, but the Pointers made one final rally.

Westrum's layup and Jay Bennett's 3-pointer made it 61-57 with 57 seconds remaining. Matt Fermanich hit one of two free throws but Bailey's basket closed the gap to 62-59 with 47 seconds to play.

Bailey, however, was called for an offensive foul on the play and UWEC then clinched the win by taking advantage of an intentional foul and technical foul on the UWSP bench.

Eau Claire had 27 free throw attempts compared to just 14 by UWSP, which was called for more than twice as many fouls (26-12).

The Pointers were also plagued by a season-long problem, lack of a consistent outside game. UWSP was just 3 of 15 from beyond the arc.

Although Bailey tallied 18 points and Westrum 10, no other UWSP players reached double figures.

"That's been the biggest surprise of the season," Bennett said of the outside game. "I really thought we would be good there. For the most part, we've taken good shots. We just aren't getting enough scoring help from the two and three spots to go with our great inside play. We haven't gotten the consistent balance we need from some of our shooters. Austin has been in one of the most prolonged shooting slumps of his career. A year ago when we had that great late run, we hit those same kind of shots."

Fisher hit 8 of 16 shots, including 6 of 10 treys, to end his career with a 26-point night. Sophomore Jon Wallenfelsz added 12 and senior Jim Anderson 10.