News Release

SUPERIOR, Wis. — The top defensive team in NCAA Division III men’s basketball lived up to its billing on Saturday as UW-Stevens Point shut down UW-Superior in a 77-42 rout over the Yellowjackets at Gates Gymnasium in Superior.

After UW-Superior scored on its first two possessions of the game for a 4-0 lead, the Pointers put down the clamps and shut down the Yellowjackets the rest of the way. UW-Stevens Point entered the game leading the country in scoring defense at 52.4 points per game and second in field goal percentage defense at 35.1 percent.

Saturday was much of the same as UW-Superior missed eight straight shots after making its opening basket and finished at 27.9 percent for the game. The Yellowjackets were just four-for-28 in the second half at 20.0 percent.

UW-Stevens Point, meanwhile, hit five of its first six field goals and used a 14-0 run to take a 14-4 lead. The Yellowjackets cut the lead to 21-17 with 7:28 left in the first half, but the Pointers exploited a UW-Superior zone defense for eight straight points and the Yellowjackets came no closer. UW-Stevens Point scored 18 straight points later in the game, closing the first half and opening the second half with a pair of 9-0 runs to build the lead to 51-22.

The game was much different that the teams’ meetings a year ago when UW-Superior swept the regular season series and UW-Stevens Point won a hard-fought conference tournament quarterfinal that sparked the Pointers’ run to the Division III national title.

Jason Kalsow led the Pointers with 19 points and seven rebounds, while scoring his 1,500th career point in the first half and moving past Brant Bailey into sixth place on the school's all-time scoring list. Nick Bennett knocked down three three-pointers and finished with 17 points. Jon Krull led a hustling defensive effort with four of the Pointers’ 15 steals while adding 13 points.

Floyd Nemeck Bayiha came off the bench to score 14 points for the Yellowjackets, who had 24 turnovers compared to just seven for UW-Stevens Point.