By Don Friday of the Stevens Point Journal

It came down to the last shot for the second year in a row, but this time a desperation 3-point missile by University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point's Russ Austin failed to fall and Winona State left Quandt Fieldhouse Monday night with a 61-58 victory.

It was the second straight home court loss for UW-SP, which now stands 7-2 on the season. Winona won for the first time in six road games while improving to 5-7. It was also the Warriors' first win in seven meetings with UW-SP dating back to the 1975-76 season.

The Pointers, who had a 15-game home court-winning streak against non-league opponents snapped, return to action at 7:30 p.m. on Sunday, taking on Viterbo College of La Crosse in the Sentry Holiday Classic.

A year ago at Winona, Austin drained a 3-pointer with time running out as the Pointers posted a 64-63 win. This time, his hurried, off-balance attempt from the deep right angle did not draw iron at the final horn.

UW-SP coach Jack Bennett admitted his team is struggling right now, although injured starter Derek Westrum, who has missed two games with a broken jaw, may be able to return for the Sentry Classic.

"We're not a real good team right now without Derek," Bennett said. We have some people who are playing very timidly. Derek is our most assertive player and maybe we tend to underestimate the things he brings to the floor."

Les Wothke, in his 23rd season as a collegiate head coach, said he hopes the victory will spark a turnaround for his outfit. "It's been a crazy season so far," Wothke said. "We have played some outstanding games in defeat against quality opponents. Our worst games have come against teams we felt we should have beaten. I certainly consider Stevens Point to be one of the best teams we'll play. They are well-coached and just so solid on defense."

Bennett credited his team with a solid first half performance but things deteriorated in the final 20 minutes, during which the Pointers made only 8 of 27 shots, including just 3 of 12 from beyond th arc.

With Austin burying his first four three point attempts and 6-7 sophomore Brant Bailey hitting five straight shots, the Pointers built a 34-22 lead with just 1:15 left before settling for a 34-26 advantage at the break.

It was a different story the rest of the way, however. Ignited by 6-6, 245-pound Justin Treptow, who scored 15 of his 17 points after the intermission, the Warriors caught fire. Winona slowly but steadily built momentum by connecting on 13 of 22 shots, finally taking the lead for good at 49-48 on a putback basket by 6-6, 230-pound junior Mark Tripp with 9:05 remaining.

The Warriors went on to build a 59-53 lead with 2:09 to play before Dan Denniston hit a 3-pointer, closing the gap to three with 1:25 showing. Two free throws by Jason Lyons made it 61-56 with 16 seconds left before Denniston drove the length of the court to score with 11 seconds left.

UW-SP had one final chance to tie when Treptow missed a free throw on the front end of the bonus with eight seconds left.

Bennett wasn't pleased with the way his team responded in the second half. "Give credit where it is due," he said. "Treptow just took over the game. But we had nobody step up to defend or challenge him on the interior. "What's disappointing is that when we needed to turn it up defensively in the second half, we did not respond. We were playing reaction defense. And I didn't think we played with a lot of hear. Winona did.

"I knew going in we weren't going to awe Winona with our talent, but I thought we could get them with our execution. We did that for just the first half."

Treptow had help from 6-3 sophomore Lance Meincke, who scored 12 points and Beal and Tripp, each of whom tallied 10. Treptow also used his bulk to come down with nine rebounds while Lyons handed out eight assists.

Austin, held to a single free throw in the second half, led UW-SP with 15 points. Denniston scored all 13 of his points in the second half. Bailey, who was again plagued with foul trouble, didn't score after the break but freshmen Joe Zuiker tallied all nine of his points in the second half.

"It's back to the drawing board," Bennett said. "We have to answer some personnel questions during the semester break."