It may not have been a virtuoso performance, but bottom line is what made the strongest impression on University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point men's basketball coach Jack Bennett here on Tuesday night.

The Pointers fought off NCAA Division II Winona State down the stretch to earn a 79-72 non-conference victory at McCown Gym.

The win improved UW-SP to 3-0 while Winona, defending co-champion of the Sun Intercollegiate Athletic Conference, dropped to 1-3.

"Usually, I nit-pick a little but this was a fine win for us against a good opponent with a physically big, veteran lineup which has high expectations for the season," Bennett said.

"We got contributions from a lot of players. We have six or seven kids who are capable of leading us on any given night and that's what makes for a successful team."

The Warriors jumped out to an early 14-4 lead but Bennett, again getting valuable output from his deep, strong bench, saw the Pointers go on a 29-5 run which opened a 33-19 lead with 6:29 left in the half.

By halftime, however, the Warriors had closed the gap to 39-32.

"It was a strange game and we turned it over enough time to make it interesting," Bennett said, referring to the Warriors' comeback which at one stage narrowed the UW-SP lead to 64-62 with 4:48 remaining.

The Pointers, however, kept their composure and built the lead back up to nine points at 75-66 on tow free throws by Nate Vosters with just 42 seconds left.

Four straight free throws by co-captains David Grzesk and Derek Westrum in the final 14 seconds sealed the win for UW-SP.

After struggling at the line in the Terry Porter Classic last weekend, the Pointers reversed the trend by converting on 19 of 24 attempts for 79 percent.

UW-SP connected on 27 of 61 floor attempts, including 6 of 16 from 3-point range, but lost the rebound battle, 43-35, and turned the ball over 20 time against Winona's pressing defense.

The Warriors, however, also had problems taking care of the ball, turning it over 27 times. UW-SP limited Winona to 36.5 percent shooting from the field (23 of 63), including a horrendous 5 of 28 from beyond the arc. The hosts fared better at the line with 21 of 28.

Nine players contributed points for UW-SP, led by 6-7 sophomore post man Brant Bailey who poured in 28 points, 14 in each half. Bailey, who also came down with eight rebounds, was 10 of 18 from the floor and 8 of 11 at the line.

The Pointers also got a big lift from 6-5 redshirt freshman Travis Kornowski who came off the bench to score 19 points, including three 3-pointers.

"Travis can shoot the ball and he picked us up by hitting some big ones, especially during that first half run," Bennett said. "Brant played a solid game."

Westrum had a double-double with 10 points and a game high 11 rebounds. Also providing a spark off the bench was Vosters who handed our six assists.

Justin Treptow, a 6-6, 245-pound junior and Lance Meincke, a 6-3 junior, scored 15 points each to lead Winona State. Kyle Schlaak, a 6-6 sophomore, added a12 points and 11 rebounds. Meincke sank just 4 of 20 shots, including 2 of 12 from 3-point range.

The Pointers will open their WIAC schedule on Wednesday, Dec. 2, at UW-Whitewater.