News Release

Oshkosh, Wis. — UW-Stevens Point lived to play for a chance at a fifth consecutive Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference men’s basketball championship, but by the narrowest of margins.

The Pointers held a 20-point halftime lead at UW-Oshkosh on Tuesday night only to have the Titans battle back before hanging on for a 63-61 victory as Andy Fernholz’s short jumper in the lane rimmed out as time expired.

UW-Stevens Point is now 20-4 overall and in a three-way tie atop the WIAC with an 11-4 conference record. The Pointers, tied with UW-River Falls and UW-Whitewater for first place, will host UW-Superior on Saturday at 3 p.m. and would become the fifth team in conference history to claim five straight titles with a victory. If all three teams win, the Pointers would be the second seed for the upcoming WIAC tournament. They need a victory and UW-River Falls to lose to UW-Platteville in order to gain the top seed.

UW-Stevens Point’s last 45 victories had all been by nine points or more and the Pointers beat the Titans for the third time this season. Having also played in the finals of the Las Vegas tournament, the game marked the first time the teams played three times in a regular season since 1929-30 and the first time the Pointers have beaten a team three times in a regular season since sweeping UW-La Crosse in 1981-82.

The Pointers used a red-hot first half to open up a 44-24 lead at intermission. After making just one of its first five shots, UW-Stevens Point made 16 of its last 20 attempts of the half including nine straight at one point. The Pointers shot 68.0 percent in the first half and appeared to be comfortably ahead, but were held to a season-low 19 points in the second half.

Both teams started the second half slow with the Pointers holding a 48-29 lead with 15:22 remaining. However, the Titans scored the next seven points and started whittling away at the deficit. After UW-Oshkosh cut the lead to seven points with 7:35 left, the Pointers pushed the lead back to 11 at 58-47 on two free throws with 6:05 left.

UW-Oshkosh’s Jim Capelle hit back-to-back deep three-pointers from about five feet above the top of the lane and then set up Pete Warning for a three-point play on the next possession to pull the Titans to within 60-56 with 3:56 remaining.

Following a missed shot by the Pointers, UW-Oshkosh’s Chad Doedens had a putback and was fouled to cut the lead to 60-59 with 3:24 left. Kalsow scored on a short turnaround jumper in the lane on the Pointers’ next possession for a three-point lead.

Neither team scored again until Warning cut the lead to one on a rebound basket with 14 seconds left. Pointers’ senior Neal Krajnik made one of two free throws with 10 seconds left before Fernholz drove the length of the court, made a move into the lane and missed a six-foot shot at the buzzer.

Kalsow had 23 points, six assists and six rebounds to lead the Pointers, who have won eight of their last nine games and won their third road game in eight days. It was the first time the Pointers have swept all three games of a conference road swing since 1985-86. Junior Eric Maus had 14 points and 10 rebounds for his first career double-double. Capelle had 15 points and David Gershenzon added 14 for the Titans.