The agony and the ecstasy.

University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point sophomore basketball guard Jay Bennett experienced both in the short span of 72 hours.

Bennett missed two 3-point shots in the closing seconds Wednesday night in the Pointers' 68-65 defeat at UW-Whitewater.

On Saturday night, however, before 1,347 vocal Parent's Day fans at Quandt Fieldhouse , Bennett more than made amends.

Scoring 15 of his team's first 17 points of the second half, Bennett led the Pointers to a 60-55 victory over UW-Eau Claire.

Nailing five of seven attempts from 3-point range, the 6-0 Bennett poured in 22 points as UW-SP (4-1) evened its Conference record at 1-1. The Pointers have a non-league outing against Mt. Senario at 7 tonight in the Ladysmith High School gym.

Plagued by 19 turnovers and 8 of 16 inaccuracy a the free throw line, the Blugolds dropped to 0-1 in the WIAC and 4-2 overall.

Although the Pointers never trailed, building leads as high at 11 points in the first half before settling for a 32-24 intermission margin, they were never able to shake off the Blugolds.

Eau Claire closed to 43-39 with 9:46 left on back-to-back lay-ups by 6-8 Jon Wallenfelsz and 6-5 Sherm Cartenson.

That's when Bennett took matters into his own hands, scoring eight straight points in just under three minutes as UW-SP regained control, 51-39.

He first buried a trey from the top of the arc, followed with a drive to the hoop from the right side and then drained another 3-pointer from the right angle.

"My confidence was down after the Whitewater game," Bennett admitted. "Coming into the season, I knew I was the guy that had to take the big 3's with the game on the line and I failed.

"But my coaches and teammates kept faith in me and helped me work through it. Who would have ever dreamed what would take place in the very next game."

"That's what I like about basketball. Unlike football, you don't have to wait all week and think about a bad game. You have to go right back out there a few days later. All the guys were just setting great screens for me. They take a lot of pride in getting me open for good shots and I just got into a rhythm tonight."

UW-EC, however, recovered enough from Bennett's bombardment to make it interesting down the stretch.

Ice cold from long range most of the game, the Blugolds suddenly got hot, using a pair of 3-pointers by 6-2 guard Quinton Johnson and one each by Cartenson and 5-11 freshman guard Jeff Kassing to pull within 3-4 points of the lead.

The Pointers, who had a banner night at the line, used single free throws by Dave Grzesk, Bennett and Derek Westrum to gain a 58-52 lead with 15 seconds left.

After Kassing's bomb closed the gap to 58-55 with :09 to go, 6-7 sophomore Joe Zuiker sealed the victory by swishing two gift shots with seven seconds to play.

Another Bennett, Jay's dad and Pointer coach Jack, had no trouble pinpointing the keys to his team's success.

"We took much better care of the ball tonight, played solid defense, and nailed our free throws," he said.

Jay Bennett was the only UW-SP player to reach double figures.

Wallenfelsz, still handicapped by the loss of the tip of the thumb on his left hand, and Division I (UW-Green Bay) transfer Cartenson led the Blugolds with 15 points each.

Wallenfelsz also grabbed eight rebounds while Johnson scored his eight points consecutively in a two-minute stretch late in the game.

Former SPASH standout Ben Schneeberger started and played 30 minutes for Eau Claire, scoring three points and grabbing four rebounds.

Jack Bennett also took note of Jay's major contribution with an appropriate remark.

"I'm pleased as a coach and thankful as a dad."