By Don Friday of the Stevens Point Journal

The team accomplishment was important and so was an individual achievement for the UWSP men's basketball team Saturday night. The Pointers kept alive their hopes for an NCAA Division III playoff berth by pulling away in the final minutes to a 72-52 victory over UW-Superior at Gates Gym.

Senior guard Russ Austin achieved a personal milestone by joining the Pointer 1000 point club. By scoring 10 points, Austin boosted his career total to 1005. The Beloit native became just the 21^st player in school history to attain that feat, reaching 1,000 with a free throw at the 15:30 mark of the second half. The win improved third place UWSP to 8-5 in the WIAC and 16-6 overall while Superior dropped to respective marks of 3-10 and 9-13.

The Pointers will host second place Oshkosh, a 79-74 home winner over River Falls Saturday, in a showdown at Quandt Fieldhouse on Wednesday at 7pm.

Pointer coach Jack Bennett was pleased with developments on both the team and individual front. "We had a solid performance," he said. "Superior was coming in on a high after beating Stout and they always play hard and physical. It was important that we keep our momentum going with Oshkosh coming in."

Austin, Bennett said, "has stood the test of time. Russ has had up moments and down moments. They didn't stop the game but he did get the game ball."

Although UWSP led from virtually the outset, the Pointers couldn't put the Yellowjackets away until the final nine minutes. With 7:32 left in the opening half, the Pointers held a 14 point advantage at 29-15. By halftime, however, UW-S had closed the gap to 32-26. The Jackets were still down by just six at 44-38 with 10:57 remaining.

That's when Brant Bailey decided to take personal charge of the offense. Bailey, who wound up with 25 points, scored eight straight points and 10 of UWSP's next 12 as the Pointers surged to a 56-42 lead with 6:46 to play.

The Pointers then outscored the Jackets in the time that remained, 16-10, with the lead reaching 22 points (70-48) with 1:22 left. Bailey, who scored 15 in the second half, connected on 8 of 13 shots, also sank 9 of 12 free throws and came down with five rebounds. "Brant just had a monster game," Bennett said.

Adding 10 points each were Austin and Derek Westrum who scored all of his in the first half. Joe Zuiker contributed eight points and eight rebounds while Dan Denniston handed out six assists.

The Pointers continued their excellent shooting, connecting on 26 of 47 from the field for 55 percent and 18 of 22 free throws for 81.8 percent. Superior shot just 41.7 percent from the floor on 20 of 48 and hit just 2 of 10 shots from 3 point range.

The only Yellowjacket to reach double figures was 6-2 senior guard Shane Peterson who had 12 points. The Pointers held 6-6 sophomore leaper Vince Thomas, the team's leading scorer and rebounder, to four points and eight boards.