Pointers turn defensive
By DON FRIDAY of the Stevens Point Journal

What happened to his previously undefeated basketball team at Quandt Fieldhouse Wednesday night came as no shock to Elmhurst, Ill. Coach Mark Scherer.

The Bluejays, who came in with an 8-0 record, were handed a decisive 74-57 non-conference defeat by the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point which improved to 7-3 on the season.

The Pointers used sticky defense and more than match the Bluejay’s physical style of play in pulling away from Elmhurst in the second half.

"I’m very familiar with Bennett basketball," Scherer said. "I was an assistant for four years at Valparaiso and then three years at Western Illinois."

During those years, Scherer’s teams ran into UW-Green Bay who were coached by Pointer coach Jack Bennett’s older brother Dick.

"It’s hard to replicate the kind of defense and physical play we saw tonight in practice," Schemer said. "Stevens Point didn’t give us the room to get off our 3-point shots that we normally get. They play defense a little better than anybody we have faced. They were also stronger with the ball."

Both Schemer and Jack Bennett felt shooting accuracy played a major role in the outcome.

The Pointers, who held a 33-26 halftime lead, shot 47.9 percent from the floor (23 of 48), including 6 of 16 from 3-point range.

Elmhurst, on the other hand, shot an icy 33.9 percent on 19 of 56. The Bulges were 3 of 24 from beyond the arc.

"This was a nice win," Bennett said. "When a team like Elmhurst hasn’t lost, they start thinking they can’t lose. We weren’t smooth offensively the first half but I thought our defense set a tone."

The Pointers put the clamps on guards Ryan Knuppel and Eric Stark who came here averaging a combined 33.6 points per game.

Against UW-SP, however, the backcourt duo managed just 17 points on a combined 4 of 27 shooting.

"That was the story of the game," Bennett said. "We kept rotating about six guys on those two and all of them did a good job, especially at defending the 3-point shot."

The Pointers again played in spurts offensively but had several productive runs which put the Bluejays away.

A 17-5 run to open the second half created a 50-32 advantage with 9:55 remaining.

The Bluejays fought back, however, closing to within 50-41 with 6:15 left.

Brant Bailey and Gabe Frank led a 20-10 surge which gave UW-SP a 19 point lead at 70-51 with two minutes to play.

"Coach told us we had to get pressure on the ball and match their physical play on the boards," said Frank, 6-5 junior who scored 14 points. "It’s a lot easier to pressure the ball when you know you have help sliding into the gaps from your teammates. We have that confidence."

Frank had a scare earlier in the week when he suffered a dislocated kneecap on his left leg in practice.

"Fortunately, it popped right back in and the trainers got me ready. I felt fine tonight," he said.

Bennett cited seldom used sophomore lead guard James Wreath for providing a spark in the first half when the Pointers were struggling on offense.

"James is a walk-on but he gave us some quality minutes and allowed us to discover that we need to have a point guard on the floor," Bennett said.

The Pointers also had a good night at the foul line, converting 22 of 30 (15 of 19 in the second half) compared to just 16 of 26 by the Bluejays.

Although Elmhurst managed a 41-31 rebounding advantage, it wasn’t nearly enough to compensate for the other deficiencies.

Bailey, whose athletic moves inside drove the Bluejays to distraction, scored 15 of his 23 points in the second half. He also came down with nine rebounds and was credited by Bennett for doing a good defensive job in the second half on Elmhurst standout James Ford.

Bailey, however, had plenty of scoring help on this occasion. In addition to Frank, Jay Bennett scored 11 points.

Reliable 6-5 senior Derek Westrum contributed 10 points (all in the second half), nine rebounds, five assists and four steals. His steal and thunderous slam dunk midway through the second half qualified as the play of the game.

Ford, an athletic 6-5, 215-pound senior from Kankakee, Ill., had 17 points and seven rebounds but was limited to nine shots. The only other Bluejay to reach double figures was sophomore guard Tony Pippin who came off the bench to score 12 points.