Pointers cruise past Stout; end Platteville's home win streak By DON FRIDAY Special to The Gazette The rarified air at the top of the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference standings is suiting the UW-Stevens Point men's basketball team just fine these days. The Pointers, ranked No. 21 in this week's NCAA Division 3 national poll, posted their third conference win in seven days by whipping UW-Stout, 80-66, before 615 hardy souls who braved the winter's first major snowstorm here on Wednesday night. The win kept UW-SP, 11-3 overall, at the top of the WIAC standings with a 6-1 record. The Pointers will host UW-River Falls on Saturday at 7 p.m. at Quandt Fieldhouse. The win over Stout capped a week which saw the Pointers record huge road wins at Oshkosh on Jan. 5 and at two-time defending national champion UW-Platteville on Jan. 8. The Pointers shot with radar-like accuracy to overcome the Blue Devils (0-7, 6-9) who had lost at Platteville Monday by just three points. The shooting helped overcome an unusually high 22 turnovers. UW-SP, however, more than compensated by connecting on 25 of 46 field goal attempts for a blazing 54.3 percent, including a banner 9 of 18 from 3-point range. It was the same story at the free throw line where the Pointers converted 21 of 24 for 87.5 percent. The domination extended to the glass as well where UW-SP had a 39-29 rebounding advantage. The Pointers built a 26-point lead (75-49) with 2:55 left before coach Jack Bennett cleared his bench and the Blue Devils managed a 17-5 advantage the rest of the way. Two senior standouts combined to score 49 points for UW-SP. 6-7 Brant Bailey, who came in averaging 23.5, tallied 25 while 6-5 Gabe Frank contributed 24. Bailey was 8 of 10 from the field, 9 of 10 at the line and grabbed nine rebounds. Frank hit 7 of 12 shots, including a scorching 6 of 9 from beyond the arc. Joe Zuiker didn't score but pulled down 11 rebounds. Stout, which dropped its seventh in row, most by close margins, couldn't find the range with any consistency. The Blue Devils shot a frigid 33 percent overall (21 of 63), including an abysmal 5 of 23 from 3-point land and sank just 19 of 31 free throws. Senior guard Jeremy Liebfried had 16 points and 6-7 Wausau (West) junior Aaron Vachoviak 15 to lead Stout. Former SPASH standout Pat Von Feldt, a 6-1 junior, added six points in 28 minutes, including a pair of treys. Pointers 77, Platteville 63 The Pointers' second road victory in four days, important for its effect on the WIAC race and the team's long-range goal this season, also had a major historical impact. The win snapped the Pioneers' regular season Williams Fieldhouse winning streak, dating back to January of 1991, at 96 games. The Pioneers had also won 70 consecutive conference games. UW-SP now holds the distinction of being the only team to win at Platteville twice in the Pioneers' last 48 games. Coach Bennett's team shocked UW-P in the NCAA-3 Tournament in 1997, leading UW-SP to a berth in the Elite Eight at Lincoln, Neb. A 21-4 run over the final 7:44 of the opening half gave the Pointers a 37-24 intermission advantage and firm control of the first place showdown. After taking a 60-42 lead with 10:06 remaining, the Pointers had to withstand a Platteville rally which closed the gap to 66-58 with 2:55 to play. UW-SP then used excellent free throw shooting down the stretch by Frank, Brent Larson, Josh Iserloth and Jay Bennett to pull away. UW-SP won almost every statistical battle from the Pioneers. The Pointers shot .519 from the field (27 of 52), including 7 of 12 from 3-point range, sank 16 of 19 free throws, had a decisive 37-25 rebounding advantage and turned the ball over just 12 times. UW-P, conversely, shot just .389 from the field (21 of 54), made 9 of 25 trey attempts and converted 12 of 19 free throws. Five Pointers scored in double figures, led by Bailey with 22 points and seven rebounds. Larson, who nailed three treys, contributed 17 points, five rebounds and eight assists. Adding 10 points each were Bennett, who also buried a trio of 3-pointers, Bailey and Zuiker who also pulled down eight rebounds. NCAA-3 Player of the Year Merrill Brunson led the Pioneers with 23 points, including four treys. Mike Jones added 18 points and a game-high 13 rebounds. Larson, a 5-10 junior transfer (Central Michigan) from Ladysmith, earned WIAC Player of the Week honors for his performances at Oshkosh last Wednesday and at Platteville. He had 10 points and five assists in the Pointers' 85-78 win over the Titans. Women's Basketball The Pointers went from famine to feast and back to famine in a seven-day period. After scoring an all-time low 28 points against traditional WIAC power UW-Oshkosh, UW-SP took out its frustrations against Platteville, 84-69, in Berg Gym last Saturday behind a 36-point scoring spree by Jessica Ott. Ott, who poured in 24 of her output in the second half, tied the school single game scoring record first set by Sonja Sorenson against Oshkosh in 1986. On Wednesday night at Menomonie, however, the roller coaster ride continued with UW-SP absorbing an 80-56 trouncing at the hands of the Blue Devils. The outcome left the Pointers 3-4 in the WIAC and 8-6 overall while Stout improved to respective marks of 5-2 and 9-6. Stout led by just 36-27 at halftime but then built leads as high as 31 points in the second half. The Pointers shot only 35.6 percent (21 of 59), lost the rebound battle, 51-41, and turned the ball over 23 times. Amie Bauer had 11 points and Amie Schultz 10 to lead UW-SP. Ott was limited to seven points but she and Bauer buried a pair of 3-point baskets. Stacie Anderson with 18 points and Andrea Bresette with 17 led the Blue Devils. Against Platteville, UW-SP built a 36-28 halftime lead, only to see the Pioneers close to 70-64 with 2:34 left before a 6-0 run by the Pointers sealed the victory. Ott connected on 9 of 18 shots, including 5 of 8 from beyond the arc, and swished 13 of 14 free throws. Teammate Carry Boehning also had a big day, hitting 10 of 15 shots while scoring 21 points and coming down with nine rebounds. After being unable to find the range against the Titans, the Pointers shot a solid 48 percent against Platteville (29 of 60) and also sparkled at the line, converting 21 of 26 for 80.8 percent. Ott's play against Oshkosh and Platteville earned the senior guard from New Glarus WIAC Player of the Week honors, an award she shared with UW-Superior's Calah Matthias, who was tragically killed in an automobile accident last Thursday, one day after scoring a career high 18 points in a non-league loss to Northwestern (Minn.). The Pointers travel to River Falls for a league outing on Saturday at 3 p.m. Hockey The Pointers' struggles continued with a 5-4 non-conference defeat to St. Mary's College at Winona, Minn. on Saturday. Earlier in the week, UW-SP had dropped an 8-5 decision to St. Thomas (Minn.) at the Willett Arena. The losses dropped UW-SP (10-5-0) to sixth place in this week's NCAA Division 3 U.S. College Hockey Online poll. Plattsburgh (N.Y.) State remains No. 1 with a 13-0-0 record. Also ranked ahead of the Pointers are St. Norbert College (13-3-1), Rochester (N.Y.) Institute (12-3-0), St. Thomas (10-1-2) and Norwich (Vt.) State (9-2-0). UW-Superior (11-4-0) is ranked No. 7. The Pointers will try to regroup this weekend with a home-and-home non-league series against Marian College. UW-SP will host the Sabres at 7:30 p.m. on Friday, then travel to Fond du Lac on Saturday for a 4 p.m. encounter. Both games can be heard on WWSP- 90-FM. After building a 2-1 first period lead on goals by Brian Fricke, short-handed at 3:02 and Matt Interbartolo at 10:31, the Pointers saw St. Mary's (6-4-2) erupt for three unanswered goals in the second period. A goal by Mike Slobodnik at 4:22 drew UW-SP to within 4-3 in the third period but St. Mary's Denny O'Connor tallied what proved to be the winning goal just 19 seconds later. A goal by the Pointers' Craig Busse at 5:37 made it 5-4 but UW-SP could not get the equalizer in the time that remained. The Pointers out-shot St. Mary's, 46-40. Dave Cinelli stopped 35 shots at the UW-SP goal while host goalie Fred Hennen was credited with 42 saves. Busse, a freshman defenseman who prepped at SPASH, was named UW-SP Player of the Week after scoring his second goal of the season and playing solid defense in both games. Wrestling The Pointers will take on defending NCAA-3 national champion Wartburg College of Waverly, Iowa on Friday at 7:30 p.m. in Quandt Fieldhouse. The Knights are ranked No. 2 in the latest national rankings and feature six wrestlers ranked in the top four of their respective weight classes. UW-SP, currently 0-4 in dual meets, will also take on top-ranked Augsburg College at Minneapolis on Feb. 11. Pointer teams are currently 3-0 against defending national champions. The women's soccer team beat Macalester (Minn.), the hockey team topped Middlebury (Vt.) and the men's basketball team toppled Platteville. Wes Kapping, a junior from Spring Valley, was named UW-SP Wrestler of the Week after posting a 16-6 win over Mike Odle of Loras (Iowa) at 184 pounds last week. His win gave the Pointers the lead with two matches left but Loras rallied to eke out a win. Indoor Track The Pointer men's and women's teams will launch their seasons Saturday by competing in the UW-Madison Badger Invitational on Saturday. The Pointers will then host invitationals on three consecutive weeks at the Multi-Activity Center, starting on Saturday, Jan. 22. The UW-SP men finished third and the women fifth in last year's WIAC Indoor Championships held in Stevens Point.