St. John's uses big plays to end UW-SP's football season By DON FRIDAY Special to the Gazette Physically and even statistically, the UW-Stevens Point football team was more than a match for St. John's University in a NCAA Division 3 West Regional playoff opener at Collegeville, Minn. Saturday afternoon. As is often the case when teams of comparable talent meet in a post-season showdown, however, the outcome hinged around mistakes and big plays. The Johnnies scored two touchdowns on interception returns by junior linebacker Beau LaBore, paving the way for a 23-10 victory which made the Pointers' first playoff venture since 1989 a short one. The setback concluded a banner 9-2 season for coach John Miech's team which earned a share of the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference championship for the second year in a row and established a school record for wins in a regular season. The victory advanced the playoff tested Johnnies (10-1) to a second round match-up at home Saturday against Central (Iowa) College (10-1) which surprised UW-La Crosse, 38-17, on the Eagles' home field. The third state team in the field, St. Norbert College, also lost in the first round at Augustana (Ill.), 39-32. LaBore's first scoring theft came with less than a minute left in the first half and the Johnnies clinging to a 6-3 lead. LaBore stepped in front of receiver Larry Aschebrook, picked off Dave Berghuis' pass and raced 66 yards for a touchdown which gave St. John's a 13-3 intermission lead. The second pick snuffed out the last UW-SP hopes for a come-from-behind victory. St. John's was leading, 16-3, with 5:31 left in the game but the Pointers, with senior quarterback Ryan Aulenbacher at the helm, had driven to the Johnnies' nine-yard line. After a fumbled snap lost four yards, Aulenbacher tried to hit Aschebrook on a quick slant over the middle but LaBore read the play, picked the ball off and scampered 92 yards for the clinching score. The only scoring of the day for the Pointers, who turned the ball over an uncharacteristic five times, came on a 27-yard field goal in the second quarter by Jason Steuck and a 9-yard strike from Aulenbacher, who was seeing his first action since breaking his left collarbone during the fifth game of the season, to Aschebrook with only 25 seconds to play. While the five turnovers cost the Pointers 17 points, UW-SP was unable to capitalize on two interceptions and a fumble recovery. The Pointers had entered the game with the third best turnover margin (plus 21) in the nation. The Pointers, who played excellent defense throughout, outgained St. John's, 306-207. Redshirt freshman Berghuis completed 10 of 19 passes for 122 yards but was picked off twice while the 6-6 Aulenbacher hit on 4 of 12, all in the final period, for 79 yards. UW-SP managed just 105 yards rushing, including 59 in 14 carries by sophomore Lance Gast and 52 yards in 16 trips by junior Wally Schmitt. Aschebrook completed his career by catching seven passes for 102 yards. The Pointers were also hurt by penalties, drawing nine for 76 yards compared to just two for 20 yards assessed against the Johnnies. Hockey A long trip into the Gopher state turned into a profitable weekend for the streaking Pointers who whipped Concordia University at Moorhead, Minn., 5-3, on Saturday night before routing St. John's, 6-1, at St. Cloud, Minn. on Sunday afternoon. The non-conference wins improved the Pointers' overall record to 7-1 with a six-game winning streak. Idle this week, UW-SP will return to Northern Collegiate Hockey Association play at Lake Forest, Ill. on Tuesday. Against the Cobbers Saturday, UW-SP scored three goals in the second period to open a 3-1 lead. Two of the goals were credited Marco Capizzano and the other to Ryan Maxson. After Concordia closed to 3-2, the Pointers put the game away on third period goals by David Boehm and Zenon Kachan. The Pointers outshot the Cobbers, 33-23, with Eagle River sophomore Bob Gould credited with 21 saves in the UW-SP net. Maxson had two of the Pointers' goals against the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Johnnies (3-2-1) on Sunday. Others went to Derek Tominato,Justin Zimmerman, Nathan Shasby and Pierre Nicolet. Pointer sophomore goalie Dave Cinelli was credited with 40 saves. Cross Country The UW-Stevens Point men's team placed sixth while the women's team came in a surprising 11th in the NCAA Championships held Saturday at the Lake Breeze Golf Course in Winneconne. Perennial kingpin North Central (Ill.) College won the men's crown with an 84 point total. Keene State (N.H.) edged UW-La Crosse for runner-up honors, 100-101. Calvin (Mich.) College was fourth with 164, followed by UW-Whitewater at 191 and UW-SP at 225. The Pointers had finished ahead of La Crosse and Whitewater while placing second in the Midwest Regional, just 13 points behind North Central, the previous week. Junior Jesse Drake led the Pointers by placing seventh in 24:02.2. Winner of the 8K race senior Dave Davis of Pugent Sound in 23:42.3. Also scoring for UW-SP were senior Dan Schwamberger, 18th in 24:24.9; senior Mike Peck, 27th in 24:36.7; senior Ryan Wenos, 61st in 25:07.9; and senior Shane Suehring, 112th in 25:40.7. Sophomore Jesse LaLonde was 140th in 26:11.4 and junior Nate Mechlin 148th in 26:19.2. The Pointer women tied Tufts University for 11th place with a 307 total. Calvin ran away with the team title with an 85 total, followed by Middlebury College at 119, Williams College at 183, St. Olaf (Minn.) at 191, UW-La Crosse at 240 and host UW-Oshkosh at 248. Freshman Carolyn Jones of California-San Diego won the individual 5K race in 17:08.1. Senior Leah Juno led the Pointers with a 13th place finish in 17:32.9. Also scoring were sophomore Becky Lebak, 42nd in 18:02.0; senior Lisa Pisca, 55th in 19:08.9; junior Erin Dowgwillo, 98th in 18:41.2; and junior Marcie Fisher, 99th in 18:41.5. Senior Alyssa Garbe was 104th in 18:43.5 and senior Jenny Krenz 134th in 19:03.5. Swimming Continuing their strong early season performances, the Pointer men's and women's teams swept championship honors in the annual Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Relays at La Crosse on Saturday. Both teams dominated the field with the men's team winning eight of 11 events and the women capturing seven of 11 events. Both teams whipped Eau Claire for top honors, the men by a 156-120 margin and the women by a 154-146 advantage. Combined the two Pointer teams outscored the Blugolds, 310-266. La Crosse tied Eau Claire for runner-up honors in the men's meet and also placed third in the women's meet with a 100 total. Oshkosh, Whitewater and River Falls completed the six-team fields. Among many Pointer men standouts in the meet were junior sensation Randy Boelk who was a member of six winning relay teams, Anthony Harris who was part of four winning teams and one runner-up team and Jeremy Francioli and Nick Harris, each of whom swam on three winning teams and two others which placed second. Senior standout Becca Uphoff led the UW-SP women by swimming on four winning relay teams and on three others which came in second. Darci Miller and Christine Sammons each swam on three winning relay teams and one runner-up team. The Pointers are now idle until Dec. 3-4 when they will compete in an invitational hosted by Wheaton (Ill.) College. Women's Basketball The Pointers earned consolation honors in their annual Tip-Off Tournament by outlasting Calvin (Mich.) College on Saturday afternoon, 65-59. UW-SP dropped its opening game to Bethel (Ind.) College on Friday night, 60-52. Lakeland College of Sheboygan won the championship, defeating Bethel, 63-52. Four free throws in the final 16 seconds by Jessica Ott enabled the Pointers to hold off a late rally by Calvin. Kari Groshek led UW-SP's balanced attack with 17 points and seven rebounds. Ott chipped in 16 points and six assists, Carry Boehning 14 points and a game high 13 rebounds and Amie Schultz 12 points and four assists. Bethel opened a 34-26 halftime lead over UW-SP and never looked back. Despite an off night shooting, Ott led the Pointers with 13 points, including 7 of 9 at the foul line. Adding 12 points each were Groshek and Schultz. UW-SP shot .429 from the field compared to Bethel's .313 but was hurt by 30 turnovers which resulted in 22 fewer shots at the basket than the Indiana school. The Pointers will host Wisconsin Lutheran at 3 p.m. on Friday in Berg Gym. Men's Basketball A 17-0 run during a three-minute stretch early in the second half enabled the Pointers to break open a close game and rout Lawrence University, 90-61 in the home opener at Quandt Fieldhouse Tuesday night. The victory came on the heels of a strong showing by UW-SP in the Lions Club Classic hosted by Northern Kentucky at Highland Heights over the weekend. After opening Friday with a 71-61 win over NCAA Division 2 St. Michael's (Vt.), the Pointers took nationally ranked Northern Kentucky to the wire on Saturday night before falling, 64-60. After building a 43-36 halftime lead behind nine 3-point bombs, the Pointers saw the Vikings (2-1) rally to take a 45-44 lead with 16:20 remaining. Brant Bailey, who poured in 30 points, then started the 17-0 run with a jumper and, when Kalonji Kadima scored underneath, UW-SP had a 61-46 cushion with 11:29 to play. With the Vikings' defense collapsing on Bailey in the post, UW-SP had a lot of open looks from the outside and the Pointers capitalized by tying a school record with 13 treys (in 24 attempts), including three each by Kadima, Gabe Frank and Derek Kind. In addition to the 6-7 Bailey, who nailed 10 of 14 shots, the Pointers' balanced attack included 14 points from Kadima and 11 from Frank. All told, 11 of the 14 players used by coach Jack Bennett broke into the scoring column. The Pointers shot 49 percent from the field, canned 17 of 24 free throws, won the rebound battle, 40-33 and pressured Lawrence into 22 turnovers. Accuracy from long range saved Northern Kentucky, ranked No. 6 in the Division 2 preseason national poll. Northern sank 11 of 25 attempts from 3-point range compared to 6 of 21 by the Pointers who had a 39-38 rebounding edge over an opponent which featured a front line of players standing 6-10 and 6-9. The Pointers shot just 36 percent from the field. Bailey, an athletic senior leaper from Wisconsin Dells who was named the tournament's most valuable player, led UW-SP with 23 points and nine rebounds. Freshman redshirt Kind added 10 points while 6-7 junior Joe Zuiker, who also made the all-tourney team, pulled down nine rebounds. After opening an early 10-point lead, the Pointers had to settle for a 36-33 halftime edge against St. Michael's. UW-SP pulled away down the stretch, however, and finished the game by shooting a blazing 55 percent from the floor compared to 37 percent by the Vermont school. Bailey poured in 24 points and also led the Pointers to a 40-30 rebounding advantage by pulling down 13. Also in double figures were Kadima with 12 points, junior transfer Brent Larson with 11 and Zuiker with 10. The Pointers (2-1) will play two games in Madison this weekend, taking on host Edgewood College at 6 p.m. Saturday and Marian College of Fond du Lac at 1 p.m. Sunday. UW-SP opens conference play by hosting UW-Whitewater on Wednesday, Dec. 1, at 7 p.m.