The rematch, to be sure, bore no resemblance to the earlier encounter.

After blowing out the University of Wisconsin-River Falls men’s basketball team by 26 points about a month earlier, UW-Stevens Point had to fight tooth and nail before finally declawing the Falcons, 59-53, at Quandt Fieldhouse.

The victory enabled UW-SP to finish fifth in the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Conference standings with a final 8-8 record. The Pointers, who are 14-10 overall, will now await an announcement expected Thursday with respect for pairings, seedings and sites for the inaugural WIAC Tournament which starts Saturday.

The loss dropped UW-RF to 3-12 in the league with one game remaining and to 8-15 overall.

It was Senior Night at Quandt and Pointer coach Jack Bennett used the occasion to start all three of the seniors available to play – regular Derek Westrum and little used Brock Vander Velden and Brett Hornseth. Dave Grzesk was lost several weeks ago to an eye injury.

The Pointers responded to the emotional boost by opening a 10-6 lead during the first six minutes before the regular starters returned to the floor.

TheFalcons, bolstered by the return of 6-2 senior Lamar Westberry and the second semester addition of 6-2 junior college transfer Sulieman Holman, refused to allow anything resembling the 28-2 first half run which enabled the Pointers to break open the first meeting.

"Sometimes you just have to thank your lucky stars," said UW-SP coach Bennett. "We had to fight through the fear of losing and being tentative tonight. The quickness that River Falls has now rivals that of Whitewater and it bothered us, especially on offense.

"I’m most proud we were able to play through the change of momentum late in the game. We did a lot of the little things well in the final couple of minutes and, most important, hit most of our free throws. I’m just pleased for the team, especially the seniors, and the coaching staff that we were able to grind this one out and get a win."

The Pointers, who had a 30-27 halftime lead, seemed to be pulling away after increasing the margin to 45-35 with just over 10 minutes remaining. A 7-0 burst featured a 3-pointer from the left wing by Jay Bennett, a lay-in following a steal by Nate Vosters and another steal and ensuing drive to the hoop by Kalonji Kadima.

After a timeout by coach Rick Bowen, however, the Falcons stormed right back, using a 15-5 run to forge a 50-50 deadlock with just 1:50 left.

Brant Bailey, who led all scorers with 21 points (13 the second half), sank one of two free throws to put UW-SP in front to stay, 51-50 with 1:20 left.

Vosters missed two free throws with :45.6 to go but 6-5 Gabe Frank came down with a key rebound and the Falcons were forced to foul Kadima with :38.8 left.

The redshirt freshman calmly swished both free throws under the bonus. UW-RF senior Pat Ptacek then what looked like a sure lay-in blocked on the way up by Bailey and the Falcons had to foul Kadima again with :21.6 seconds showing. He again sank two more free throws for a 57-50 Pointer lead with 11 seconds to go.

The Pointer leaper then closed out the scoring with a slam dunk a second before the final horn.

Bowen lamented his team’s lack of offensive discipline and 21 turnovers, many of them unforced.

"I hate to see one-on-one basketball but that’s the hand I have to play with right now," said the former UW-Madison assistant. "I just haven’t had these guys long enough to get them used to playing my system. In order for us to be successful, guys have to buy into my system."

"I also made a calculated risk to play some freshman who are learning as they go. We just had too many turnovers tonight, mainly because we were playing too much one-on-one and not showing the patience and discipline on offense."

"I thought, however, that we did a great job defensively. River Falls basketball will be back."

Bailey had offensive help from Kadima who had 12 points. The Pointers had to overcome the loss of Westrum, who also pulled down a game high 11 rebounds, on fouls with 2:23 remaining.

River Falls was led by 6-2 sharpshooting junior guard Chad Coss with 12 points, including 3 of 5 3-pointers, Westberry with 11, Holman with 10 and Ptacek with nine, plus six rebounds.