By Don Friday of the Stevens Point Journal

With their biggest game of the season to date looming just three days away and the shock of losing a key starter still fresh on their minds, there was a danger that the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point men's basketball team would not be focused Wednesday night.

Such was not the case, however, as the Pointers used strong defensive play to shut down a Madison Edgewood rally in the second half on the way to a 67-51 victory at Quandt Fieldhouse.

The win kept UW-SP unbeaten at 7-0 and set the stage for the invasion of unbeaten, three-time defending conference champion UW-Platteville on Saturday. The tip-off is set for 7 p.m. at Quandt.

The loss dropped the Eagles, who upset the Pointers in Madison last season, to 6-2.

Perhaps, the memory of that disappointing loss, which coach Jack Bennett felt was his team's worst performance of the season, was enough to insure that there would be no letdown, despite the loss of starter Derek Westrum for 4-6 weeks with a broken jaw suffered in practice Tuesday.

In a highly physical confrontation, the Pointers went on a 22-7 run during the final 10 minutes of the first half to gain a 35-22 lead at the intermission.

The Eagles, however, didn't go away in the second half and used a 14-7 run to pull within six points (51-45) with 6:30 remaining.

The Pointers then tightened up defensively and turned to inside players Joe Zuiker and Brant Bailey to outscore the Eagles the rest of the way, 16-6.

Bailey, a 6-foot 7, 215-pound sophomore leaper from Wisconsin Dells who made his first start of the season in place of the injured Westrum, stepped up big time with 16 points and six rebounds in 31 minutes.

Zuiker scored nine of his 11 points in the second half, including eight in the final six minutes. He also contributed six rebounds and four assists.

"It was a very physical game and we have the capacity to play that way, although I'm still a firm believer that basketball should be a finesse sport," Bennett said.

"We were feeling our way with the lineup change for the first five minutes or so but then we cam together well. We took good care of the basketball and our passing game was excellent, especially on the interior."

Bennett felt a key to the outcome was the Pointers' success in shutting down Edgewood's top two scorers. Cory Whitsell, a 5-10 junior guard who came in averaging 19.0, managed just three points while 6-8 senior center Josh Donner, who averaged 16.9, scored just seven before fouling out with 2:16 remaining.

"Two things beat us," said veteran Edgewood coach Steve Larson. "We had too many breakdowns defensively and they were more physical that we were."

"Stevens Point deserves all the credit for clamping down on our top two scorers, although in reality we've had different guys step up to lead us at different times."

"We made our run in the second half and we got in the bonus early, so I thought we were in pretty good shape. But then we just stopped attacking the basket and that's why we didn't get to the line down stretch."

The Pointers also shot the ball much better than the Eagles, 47 percent to 38.9 percent. Neither team had much success from 3-point range but UWSP had a 18-12 advantage in assists and turned the ball over just six times compared to Edgewood's 14.

Dan Denniston had 14 points and six assists in directing the Pointers' attack while Dave Grzesk added nine points, four rebounds, three steals, and three assists.

Ryan Lanphear, a smooth 6-0 sophomore guard with a deft outside shooting touch, led Edgewood with 16 points but no other Eagles' player reached double figures.