By Don Friday of the Stevens Point Journal

Jack Bennett couldn't contain his enthusiasm. "Finally, we got the monkey off our back," shouted the UWSP men's basketball coach after watching his team whip UW-Whitewater 93-80 at Quandt Fieldhouse Wednesday.

The Warhawks, the only Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference team Bennett had not beaten in his nearly two full seasons at UWSP, had won nine straight games over the Pointers dating back to February 17, 1993.

The Pointers, who snapped a two-game losing streak, not only broke the hex, but did it with a flair as seven players scored in double figures for what is believed to be the first time in school history.

Most important, however, the Pointers kept alive their admittedly slim playoff hopes. UWSP is now 7-5 in the WIAC and 15-6 overall with four games remaining. The Pointers share third place with Eau Claire which dropped a 77-75 home decision to second place Oshkosh Wednesday.

The loss all but eliminated the fading Warhawks from postseason consideration. With assistant Pat Miller again on the bench in place of ailing head coach Dave Vander Meulen, who is still being treated for a blood clot, Whitewater dropped to 5-6 in the conference and 12-8 overall.

"Two of the big keys for us were that we kept James Stewart from taking over the game like he did up there and had great consistency in our attack," Bennett said. "Sure, we had too many turnovers (20), but we attacked their press and got a lot more by being aggressive than we gave up. The worst thing you can do against the kind of quickness they possess is to play passive. Whitewater is a dangerous team because they have a lot of good shooters who can really score quickly on you."

The Warhawks stayed with UWSP for the first half, which ended 41-41, because of their deadly 3 point shooting. With senior guard Eric Burdette draining 4 of 5 and scoring 14 points, the Warhawks connected on 7 of 11 treys during the first 20 minutes.

The Pointers' game plan was to pound away inside at UW-W and wear the Hawks down with their bench. The strategy paid huge dividends in the second half. Counting the last two minutes of the first half, UWSP went on an 18-3 run to open a 58-44 lead with 14:30 remaining. The Pointers capped the surge with a 12-0 spurt. Once Whitewater's shooting cooled off, as it did noticeably in the second half, its fate was sealed.

The visitors made just 12 of 37 shots after the break including 3 of 14 from beyond the arc.

With Bennett making liberal use of his bench, UWSP continued to pull away, opening a game high lead of 24 points at 78-54 with seven minutes remaining.

"We got really great play from everybody, but especially Joe Zuiker and Brant Bailey inside and Gabe Frank and Nate Vosters outside," Bennett said.

Frank, who started in place of Dave Grzesk, responded with 18 points, six assists and six rebounds in 28 minutes. He also combined with Grzesk to limit the 6-5 forward Stewart to 13 points, more than 9 below his average. The athletic Stewart, who had seven rebounds and 5 steals, made only 4 of 12 shots.

"Gabe was strong on both ends and Vosters is giving us that tough mentality you need from a point guard. He's taking some of the load off Denniston," Bennett said.

The Pointers' patience and execution on offense was reflected in their shooting percentages. UWSP hit 32 of 54 floor attempts (.593), 4 of 10 from three point range and 25 of 31 free throws. In addition, the Pointers had a 45-28 rebounding advantage, including 36-18 on the defensive board.

In addition to Frank, Zuiker had 16 points, Derek Westrum 13, Russ Austin and Grzesk 12, and Denniston and Bailey each with 10. "Coach told us after the Platteville game that we all had to pick up our offensive output," Westrum said. "It was our game plan to attack them there with Joe and Brant. They also do a lot of gambling on defense, going for the steals and double teams, and we were able to take advantage of that. Our bench did a great job and we just wore them down in the second half."

Burdette, held to one basket in the second half, still led the Warhawks with 17 points. John Seward added 13 and Jason Perry 11. Ex-Pointer Graham Diemer had eight off the bench. Bennett said it's important that his team not look at the big picture right now, just focus on the next opponent.

"I just told the guys before the game not to hold back anything in reserve," he said. "We also had this kind of effort at Platteville. Tonight we had the execution to go with it."

The Pointers return to WIAC action at UW-Superior Saturday night.