News Release

STEVENS POINT, Wis. — Nick Bennett picked up where he left off last season for the UW-Stevens Point men’s basketball team, pouring in 23 points on red-hot shooting as the Pointers opened defense of their NCAA Division III championship with a 79-45 win over Lawrence Saturday in Stevens Point.

Last season’s championship MVP scored 16 of the team’s first 25 points as the Pointers built a 10-point halftime lead and then used a 17-0 run early in the second half for their largest postseason win ever. The game was a rematch of last season’s sectional final when the Pointers beat the Vikings 82-81 in overtime.

UW-Stevens Point is now 25-3 and the top-ranked team in Division III by D3hoops.com. The Pointers advance to the sectional to face either Puget Sound (Wash.) or Buena Vista (Iowa) on Friday. Site and time will be determined on Sunday.

The game opened much like last year’s showdown with both teams shooting well from the field in a back and forth battle. Bennett hit his first four shots and had 10 points in the first 7:10 of the game before the Vikings took a one-point lead at 18-17 with 11:18 left in the first half. UW-Stevens Point turned up the defense from that point, holding the Vikings scoreless during a 10-0 run over the next 5:15 and without a field goal until a three-pointer by Dan Evans pulled Lawrence to within 30-23 with 3:23 left in the half.

A signature play of the game came at the end of the first half when the sellout crowd of 2,815 came to its feet and Lawrence was unable to get a shot attempt before the buzzer sounded.

“That was a big play at the end of the first half,” Pointers’ coach Jack Bennett said. “That hurts the psyche and I’ll give our crowd credit on that. These last four games have been incredible atmospheres that a lot of D-I’s would give their right hand for.”

UW-Stevens Point carried the momentum into the second half, hitting its first five shots and eight of its first 11 to build a 60-31 advantage with 12:35 left in the game. Bennett started the 17-0 spurt with a layup, but didn’t score again in the stretch until a three-pointer made it 59-31.

“I knew Lawrence would come out emotional,” Bennett said. “I thought if we got them in the second half on their heels, they would wear down and that’s what happened.”

“That second half we were really clicking offensively,” Nick Bennett said. “I think that translated into us playing better on defense.”

The Pointers smothered the Vikings in the second half, holding them to 26.3 percent shooting and 36.8 percent in the second half. Meanwhile, UW-Stevens Point shot 58.3 percent after halftime and 54.2 percent for the game.

“We were just a step behind everything defensively,” said Vikings’ coach John Tharp, whose 13th-ranked team ended the year 20-6 and defeated Gustavus Adolphus on the road in the opening round. “Part of that was Thursday night and part of it was Stevens Point. The shame of it for me is I didn’t think we played the way we’re capable of playing.”

“I think last year our game with them got our attention,” Jack Bennett said. “I thought we were 100 percent better defensively tonight.”

Jason Kalsow added 15 points, eight rebounds and five assists, while Jon Krull scored 13 points for UW-Stevens Point. Evans scored 10 points and Brendan Falls had nine for the Vikings.