Mount Senario college sank 16 consecutive free throws in a five-minute overtime period to hand the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point men's basketball team a 76-67 non-conference defeat at the Ladysmith High School gym on Monday night.

The loss dropped UW-SP to 4-2 while the Fighting Saints, improved to 8-5. It was the first win for Mount Senario over a WIAC school since 1994.

The Pointers return to Quandt Fieldhouse at 7 p.m. on Wednesday for a WIAC matchup against UW-Superior.

The major factor in the Pointers' coming up short in a struggle that was close throughout was poor shooting.

The Pointers made only 23 of 73 field goal tries for an abysmal 31.5 percent. It was even worse from 3-point range as UW-SP connected on just 7 of 31 for 22.6 percent.

Making matters worse, the Pointers converted just 14 of 23 free throws for 60.9 percent compared to Senario's 19 of 23 for 82.6 percent.

The Fighting Saints, who shot 46 percent form the field) 6 of 17 from beyond the arc), also had a 45-42 rebounding edge, helping compensate for a 24-16 deficiency in turnovers.

"Mount Senario was a very talented, athletic team with a lot of skilled individual players," said UW-SP coach Jack Bennett. "I'm just glad this one is over. It was a game we did not want to play coming off an emotional conference win on Saturday. Our focus has to be on our important league games."

Bennett, however, felt his charges played hard, with one notable lapse, and could have pulled the victory out with more accurate shooting.

"Shooting is something we can't do much about," he said. "It's difficult to believe our percentages were so bad because we had some great looks. As I've said before, shooting can make up for a lot of sins."

"There was also one stretch of about seven minutes in the second half where I thought we played soft. WE seemed to be bothered about such things as missed shots, turnovers and calls by the officials."

"Instead of feeling sorry for ourselves, we have to play through things like that."

After falling behind early, 14-5, the Pointers outscored Mount Senario the rest of the half, 22-9, to open a 27-23 intermission lead.

Led by the inside scoring of Brant Bailey and Joe Zuiker and the outside sniping of Travis Kornowski, who came off the bench to nail a pair of 3-pointers, UW-SP stayed in front until the final five minutes.

Missed shots, both from the field and free throw line, prevented the Pointers from nailing down the win in regulation. Bailey made one of two free throws with :19.9 left to create the final tie at 54-54, although the Saints missed an outside jumper and a put-back attempt in the closing seconds.

Mike McKay, a 6-2 senior guard from Chicago, took personal charge of the Mount Senario offense in the overtime. He drained a 3-point shot for a 59-54 lead, then went on to swish eight consecutive free throws, winding up with 20 points and 10 rebounds.

A 3-point basket by Jay Bennett and his two free throws moments later drew UW-SP to within 67-63 with :54 left but the Saints made eight straight charity line tosses to put the game away.

The 6-7 Bailey finished with a double double, scoring 20 points and coming down with 10 rebounds. 6-5 junior Gabe Frank added 13 points and five assists, Jay Bennett 12 and Kornowski, who drained three treys, 11.

Bennett, whose outside shooting played a key role in the win over Eau Claire Saturday, was just 2 of 13 from 3-point range while Frank managed just 2 of 9.

Antwan Harris, a 6-5 senior, added 15 points and 10 rebounds for Mount Senario, which outscored UW-SP in the extra period, 21-13. Chipping in a 14 apiece were 6-7 Larry Taylor and 6-3 Shamtoine Nelson.