News Release

STEVENS POINT, Wis. — A clear, cold night is a perfect time to look for the stars and the UW-Stevens Point men’s basketball team did just that Tuesday night, riding All-American Jason Kalsow to a 55-44 victory over UW-Platteville in a Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference opener.

Kalsow poured in 22 points, while recording eight rebounds and six blocks as the top-ranked Pointers earned their 14th consecutive victory.

The teams were equally as cold as the weather, especially UW-Platteville, which missed its final 10 shots over the last 10 minutes of the first half and shot just 32.7 percent for the game. The Pointers shot a season-low 43.8 percent, but shot 50 percent in the second half after a cold first half.

UW-Stevens Point started out red-hot, hitting three of its first four shots to build a 7-0 lead. The Pointers led 16-13 with 8:13 left in the half when UW-Platteville went ice cold, failing to score until a pair of Brad Reitzner free throws with 37 seconds left in the half stopped another seven-point run by the Pointers.

UW-Stevens Point led 25-15 at halftime, but the Pioneers made their first three shots of the second half and scored the first seven points of the period to pull within 25-22. The Pioneers cut the deficit to three points on four more occasions and trailed 36-33 with 9:15 left before Eric Maus scored a rebound basket and then made two free throws after another offensive rebound. Kalsow added a layup and Maus hit two more free throws to complete an eight-point spurt and put the Pointers ahead 44-33 with 6:45 left.

UW-Platteville was within six points at 49-43 with two minutes left before Jon Krull drained a three-pointer from the deep corner with 58 seconds left to seal the victory for the Pointers.

Tamaris Relerford hit three three-pointers to finish with nine points for the Pointers, while Nick Bennett had nine points and Maus added eight – all in the second half. Mark Gossens and Sean Krause each had 10 points for UW-Platteville.