By Don Friday of the Stevens Point Journal

Quality depth was expected to be a strength for the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point men's basketball team this season.

With non-starters accounting for 27 points, nearly half of the offensive output, the Pointers pulled away from Mount Senario College, 62-48, to earn championship honors in the Men's Division of the 14th annual Terry Porter Classic at Quandt Fieldhouse Saturday night.

It was the fourth straight Porter crown and 10th overall for the unbeaten Pointers, who improved to a 4-0 on the season. UW-SP has a non-league date with Lawrence University in Appleton Tuesday night.

The loss dropped the Fighting Saints, who started players from Belgrade, Yugoslavia, to 2-8.

"Our bench won it for us," said UW-SP coach Jack Bennett. "All of those guys made contributions, several at critical times in the second half."

The Pointer coach felt his team's play in the first half, when UW-SP took command, 36-20, was outstanding.

"We played beautiful basketball in the first half - our best 20 minutes of the season," he said. "It got pretty physical in the second half and the only reason we didn't put them away earlier is that a few of our people couldn't put down their shots, even though we had good looks."

While the Pointers' shooting was off in the second half, particularly from long range, the defense effort remained constant.

"We have good shooters and as long as we're taking good shots, I have no complaints," Bennett said. "When we have one of those nights, we need our defense to get us through and that's just what happened."

The Pointers shot just 40 percent overall and made only 2 of 19 attempts from 3-point shot range. UW-SP, however, hit 16 of 22 free throws, controlled the boards by a 39-31 margin and had fewer turnovers, 16-10.

Defensively, UW-SP limited the Fighting Saints to 32.7 percent shooting, including just 5 of 23 beyond the arc.

Veteran Mount Senario coach Ed Andrist wasn't pleased with his team's first half performance.

"Obviously, their first half pressure got to us," he said. "We had 11 turnovers and took bad shots. Stevens Point came out more inspired. Their philosophy is to shut you down."

"They were just more fundamentally sound than we were. We have good athletes but that doesn't get it done unless you execute the fundamentals."

"We played hard and made a nice run in the second half. Had we been able to get within four or five points, it would have been a horse race."

Trailing 52-37, with about eight minutes left, the Fighting Saints went on a 7-0 run to close within 52-44 with 4:16 remaining. Freshman Milos Plecas nailed a 3-pointer and two free throws each by 6-1 junior Michael McKay and Plecos had the UW-SP fans getting a little nervous.

That when Brant Bailey decided to take personal charge of the Pointer offense.

After a bank shot by Russ Austin restored a 10-point lead, the 6-7 sophomore from Wisconsin Dells tallied his team's next six points. He scored twice on baseline drives and added two free throws as UW-SP pulled away.

Austin led the balanced scoring attack with 12 points while Dave Grzesk, selected the tournament's most valuable player, and Bailey added 10 points each. Grzesk, who also had eight points and four assists, put the clamps on 6-5 Antwan Harris, holding the talented junior to 10 shots and eight points.

"I just try to use the fundamentals we work on in practice every day," said the New Berlin junior, who has a well-deserved reputation as the Pointers' defensive stopper.

"Defense is my main responsibility. I know I'm going to screw up once in a while but that's where the team defense comes in. It's a good feeling knowing you can depend on your teammates."

"One of our main goals is to get back in the playoffs and go as far as we can. We just have to keep improving each time out and concentrate on playing against the game more that the opponent."

McKay led Mount Senario with 13 points while Plecas added 11 and 6-8 freshman Bronko Krakovic 10.

Ripon College earned consolation honors by whipping Dominican (Ill.) University, 60-44. Former Wisconsin Rapids Lincoln standout Bret VanDyken and ex Fond du Lac Goodrich stalwart Adam Zakos had 14 points each for the Red Hawks (3-1) who made 19 of 23 free throws. The Defenders' who shot just 29 percent, were led by Victor Junious with 15 points and Stacey Wingate with 10.

In addition to Grzesk, two others Pointers earned Classic awards. Junior Derek Westrum of River Falls won the Mr. Hustle award and 6-0 senior Dan Denniston of Pittsville was name to the five-man all-Classic team, joining Harris and Plecas of Mount Senario, Zakos and Wingate. Ripon's Tim Gera, a 6-8 senior, won the Chairman of the Boards award by coming down with 19.