Pointers survive trek to Superior
The Stevens Point Journal

SUPERIOR - Getting ready for a basketball game after making the long trek to Superior is difficult enough.

Wednesday, the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point not only had to deal with the journey up north, but also having their leading scorer, Brant Bailey, available for just 15 minutes of playing time because of foul trouble in their matchup with a much-improved UW-Superior squad.

Despite having the cards dealt against them, the Pointers held off the Yellowjackets 65-63.

"If you told me before the game all of the obstacles we would have to overcome - and not having Brant break a sweat out there - I would have told you we would struggle. And we did," said UW-SP coach Jack Bennett.

"But sometimes you have to dodge some bullets. Tonight we dodged about 50."

Gabe Frank scored 13 points and Bailey added 12 as the Pointers improved to 2-1 in the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference and 6-2 overall.

Superior, 5-2 overall, 1-2 in the WIAC, was led by Jason Strilzuk with 22 points and Vince Thomas with 19.

The Pointers opened a 10-point lead - 15-5 - over the first four minutes of the game, but the Yellowjackets used a 24-15 run to close the first half and pull to within 30-29.

Bailey went to the bench with his fourth foul just one minute and 49 seconds into the second half.

A jumper by Strilzuk knotted the game at 38-38 with 13:49 remaining.

The Pointers then got a spark off the bench from senior Ben Benesh, who scored all eight of his points during a 13-4 run which gave UW-SP a 51-42 lead with 10:39 to go.

"I was furious with the team at half-time because we were playing passive inside," Bennett said. "I told them we needed someone to go out there and show some guts and that is what Ben Benesh did and it really turned things around for us."