Sun 13-Feb-2000

Pointer men wrap up WIAC championship
By Central Wisconsin Sunday Staff

RIVER FALLS - It didn't come easy, but the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point men's basketball team claimed the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference title with a 74-73 victory over UW-River Falls on Saturday.

The Pointers had to survive some nervous moments in the late going - including a late Falcon surge that wiped away a 10-point UW-SP lead and a pair of shots potential game-winning shots by River Falls in the closing seconds - to ensure that the conference crown was theirs.

"This is unbelievable," said UW-SP coach Jack Bennett, whose team was picked to finish fifth in the WIAC preseason poll.

"I'm not sure we had the right to believe at the beginning of the year that something like this would happen, but it became clearer and clearer as the season went on."

The Pointers wrapped up a share of the WIAC title and the home-court advantage for the WIAC tournament on Wednesday with a victory over UW-Stout.

Had the Pointers come up short against the Falcons, they would have still clinched the conference crown outright by virtue of Oshkosh's 83-71 victory over second place Eau Claire on Saturday.

But Bennett said it was sweeter for the Pointers to be able care of business for themselves.

"With Eau Claire losing, we would have been still been happy to win the title outright, had we lost. Or, if it was meant to be, sharing the title," Bennett said.

"But what makes it even better is that we did what we needed to do, against a very good team from River Falls that is one of the best shooting teams in the conference. This was a battle.

"We had everything going against us tonight. We were on the road, it was their alumni night and it was Senior Night, so they had one of their biggest crowds of the year. But we found a way to get it done again."

Brant Bailey scored a game-high 24 points and grabbed 10 rebounds to lead the Pointers. Brent Larson and Gabe Frank added 16 points apiece and Joe Zuiker contributed 10 points and nine rebounds for UW-SP, 14-2 in the WIAC and 19-4 overall.

The Falcons, 8-7 in the WIAC and 14-9 overall, also had four players in double figures, led by Shawn Timm with 18. Edmund Johnson added 15 points, Pat Ptacek had 12 and Nic Been tallied 10 for River Falls.

Saturday's game played out much like the first meeting between the Pointers and Falcons in Stevens Point on Jan. 15. In that contest, the Pointers trailed by seven at halftime, before pulling out a 64-60 victory.

This time, UW-SP fell behind by five, 34-29, at the break before righting its ship and holding off the Falcons.

"We won this game with fearless perseverance," Bennett said. "Sometimes, all you can do is just enough to outlast your opponent. That's what we did tonight."

Improved shooting and rebounding played a major role in the Pointers' second-half success. UW-SP, which connected on 10-23 shots (44 percent) in the first half, was a blistering 19-of-29 (66 percent) from the field in the final 20 minutes.

The Pointers also owned the glass in the second half. After playing to a 14-14 duel on the boards in the first half, UW-SP outrebounded River Falls 18-7 in the second half.

"In the second half, we did a much more solid job of moving the ball and getting the ball to the open player," Bennett said. "And we did a much better job on the glass, especially Joe Zuiker and Gabe Frank. They really went hard to the glass when we needed them to."

Back-to-back 3-pointers by Frank and Larson gave UW-SP it's first lead since early in the first half at 49-48 with 14:25 remaining. The Pointers outscored the Falcons 22-13 over the next 10 minutes to grab a 10-point lead - 71-61 - with four and half minutes to go.

But the Falcons were not done yet.

Timm capped a 12-3 River Falls spurt with a 3-pointer that cut the Pointer lead to 74-73 with just under a minute remaining.

A turnover by the Pointers on their next possession gave the Falcons the ball with 23 seconds remaining and a chance to win the game. But potential game-winning shots b Scott DeWyre and Timm came up short and the Pointers left the court with the win and the league title.

"I think I grew quite a bit older in the closing minutes," Bennett said. "But when that last shot went up, I could see it was off line and I think I got about 20 of those years back."

The newly-crowned WIAC champions return home for a non-conference game on Wednesday night against Mount Scenario before getting back to the WIAC battles when the conference tournament series kicks off the following week.

"Right now, I don't how we will respond on Wednesday," Bennett said. "We are really spent after all we have been through to win the conference championship the last couple of weeks.

"But Wednesday will be a big night. It will be Senior Night and we have some special things planned and I think we will be able to get up for it."