News Release

Stevens Point, Wis. — UW-Stevens Point shot over 60 percent in each half to clinch its second Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference tournament title and first since 2000 with a 68-50 win over UW-Platteville on Saturday at the Quandt Fieldhouse.

The Pointers got 17 points from junior center Eric Maus and junior forward Nick Bennett added 16 points as UW-Stevens Point earned its third NCAA Division III tournament berth in five years. The Pointers are now 22-5 overall and ranked 14th in the Division III rankings.

The game was tight for the first eight minutes with UW-Stevens Point holding a 15-14 lead, however, the Pioneers hit just one of their next eight field goal attempts as the Pointers went on an 11-2 run over the next 8:42 to take a 26-16 lead. UW-Platteville cut the lead to seven at 31-24 at halftime, but came no closer in the second half.

After the Pioneers hit a free throw to open the half, Jon Krull hit a pair of layups to push the UW-Stevens Point lead back to 10 points. UW-Platteville trailed 35-28 with 16:25 left when the Pointers used a 10-2 run to take control of the game at 45-30 capped by a three-point play by Maus, who had 14 of his game-high points in the second half.

The Pioneers had the lead down to 47-34 with nine minutes left, but missed their next seven shots and fell down by 22 points before finally making another field goal with 2:39 remaining.

UW-Stevens Point shot 61.9 percent in the first half and 64.7 percent after halftime to finish at 63.2 percent for the game. UW-Platteville shot 37.0 percent, including just 29.2 percent in the second half.

Pioneers’ senior guard Brad Reitzner finished with 15 points on four-for-13 shooting – all from three-point range. UW-Platteville ends its season with a 16-12 record and made its first WIAC title game appearance since winning the title in 1999.

UW-Stevens Point will learn of its first round NCAA tournament pairing on Sunday at 9:30 p.m.

UW-STEVENS POINT 68, UW-PLATTEVILLE 50
UW-PLATTEVILLE (16-12)
Reitzner, Brad 4-13 3-3 15; Temperly, Brandon 4-7 2-2 11; Crawford, LeVon 4-5 2-4 10; McGettigan, Frank 4-9 0-0 10; Uppena, Tom 1-3 2-2 4; Krause, Sean 0-3 0-0 0; Syse, Kendall 0-2 0-0 0; Gossens, Mark 0-3 0-0 0; Molitor, Tom 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 17-46 9-11 50.
UW-STEVENS POINT (23-5)
Maus, Eric 5-6 7-8 17; Bennett, Nick 7-11 0-0 16; Kalsow, Jason 5-8 2-2 13; Krull, Jon 4-5 1-4 9; Grusczynski, Kyle 2-3 1-1 5; Bauer, Brian 1-2 0-0 3; Krajnik, Neal 0-2 3-4 3; Relerford, Tamaris 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 24-38 16-21 68.
UW-Platteville................   24   26  -   50
UW-Stevens Point..............   31   37  -   68
3-point goals-UW-Platteville 7-26 (Reitzner, Brad 4-13; McGettigan, Frank 2-7; Temperly, Brandon 1-2; Krause, Sean 0-2; Syse, Kendall 0-2), UW-Stevens Point 4-11 (Bennett, Nick 2-6; Bauer, Brian 1-1; Kalsow, Jason 1-1; Krajnik, Neal 0-1; Relerford, Tamaris 0-1; Krull, Jon 0-1). Fouled out--UW-Platteville-Krause, Sean; Crawford, LeVon, UW-Stevens Point-None. Rebounds-UW-Platteville 19 (Gossens, Mark 7), UW-Stevens Point 22 (Kalsow, Jason 9). Assists-UW-Platteville 11 (McGettigan, Frank 4), UW-Stevens Point 13 (Relerford, Tamaris 3; Maus, Eric 3; Kalsow, Jason 3). Total fouls-UW-Platteville 26, UW-Stevens Point 13. A-2316.