The Pointers shot 55.9 percent from the field and drained 14 three-pointers compared to one for the Red Hawks. Pete Rortvedt and Drew Jackson led the Pointers’ balanced scoring effort with 15 points apiece. Bryan Beamish nearly gave the Pointers seven players in double figures by scoring eight points.
UW-Stevens Point is now 3-0 and had already beaten Ripon’s league rivals Carroll and Lawrence. The Red Hawks are 1-2 overall.
Neither team held bigger than a five-point lead in the first 11 minutes of the game until UW-Stevens Point used a 7-0 run in the first half to take a 28-22 lead with 8:45 left in the first half. The Pointers then closed the first half with back-to-back three-pointers in the final minute from Pete Rortvedt and Steve Hicklin to lead 49-38 at halftime.
UW-Stevens Point opened the second half with a 13-2 run to build a 62-40 advantage. The Pointers scored on seven straight possessions and hit five consecutive three-pointers capped by a three-pointer from Khalifa El-Amin with 15 minutes left that put UW-Stevens Point ahead 68-45.
Ripon closed to within 12 points at 79-67 with 4:45 remaining, but Matt Moses followed with a three-point play for the Pointers to push the lead back to 15 points. The nation’s leading free throw shooting team in 2005-06 then made all six attempts in the final two minutes to seal the win.
Jon Krull had 13 points, while El-Amin, Moses and Hicklin each totaled 12 points for UW-Stevens Point. Brian Schmitting had 29 points and 10 rebounds for Ripon, including 21 points in the first half.