POINTERS WEAR DOWN EAGLES, 68-47

By Don Friday of the Stevens Point Journal

After a 22-day layoff, the University of Wisconsin - La Crosse men's basketball team geared up for an upset against UW-Stevens Point Wednesday night.

The fired-up Eagles trailed the Pointers by just one point at halftime before UWSP took command and went on to post a 68-47 victory witnessed by just 205 fans at Mitchell Hall.

The win boosted the Pointers to 2-1 in the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference and 10-2 overall. La Crosse dropped to 0-3 in league play and 5-6 overall.

The Pointers return home to take on UW-Superior at 7 p.m. Saturday at Quandt Fieldhouse.

After being limited to just 18 shots and turning the ball over 10 times during the first 20 minutes, the Pointers used a stifling defense and hot shooting to outscore the Eagles 42-22 the rest of the way.

The UWSP bench, which made a major difference in the outcome, contributed 24 points. "Our bench played great again," said Pointer coach Jack Bennett. "It's taken us a while to figure out our best rotation but we've reached the point where we are using it a lot better. It's a sign of how far your program has progressed when you can go eight or nine deep and not have a drop-off in the quality of play. This is not a sport where you can coast. You have to play all out."

The Pointers, despite their problems, led most of the first half by as much as nine points, 24-15, with 4:23 left.

The Eagles, however, went on a 10-0 run, finally taking a 25-24 lead on Jay Daly's jumper with 36 seconds left.

Derek Westrum's layup with 10 seconds to go allowed UWSP to gain a 26-25 halftime lead.

While the defense was limiting UWL to 8 of 19 shooting in the second half and forcing eight turnovers, the Pointers offense cam alive, connecting on 15 of 23 shots, including 8 of 13 from beyond the arc. Jay Bennett came off the bench to hit a trio of 3-pointers while lead guard Dan Denniston hit a pair.

Denniston's trey put the Pointers ahead to stay, 29-27, early in the second half and UWSP went on to build a 49-34 advantage with 10:16 remaining.

Westrum's jumper made it 60-41 with 4:18 to play and two more long range bombs by Bennett in the last minute raised the final margin to 21 points.

Nine of the 12 players used by coach Bennett broke into the scoring column and eight of them tallied five or more points.

Denniston led the way with 14 points and five assists. "Dan is a point guard who can both run the show and score," Bennett said.

Russ Austin added 12 points and a game-high six assists while Bennett contributed nine points and Gabe Frank eight, also off the bench. Westrum, regaining form after missing two games with a broken jaw, added seven points, six assists, six steals and eight rebounds in a solid all-around performance.

Former Paceilli High standout, Brady Metcalf, a 6-4 sophomore, took advantage of a starting opportunity by scoring 16 points (12 in the second half) and grabbing seven rebounds for La Crosse.