The freshman point guard scored 15 points and was nine-for-nine at the free throw line while navigating through hounding Puget Sound pressure the entire night as UW-Stevens Point beat the Loggers in the NCAA Division III sectional semifinals for the second straight year with an 81-63 victory on Friday in Stevens Point.
UW-Stevens Point is now 26-3 overall and will host Trinity (Texas) in the sectional finals on Saturday at 7 p.m. with a berth in the national semifinals in Salem, Va. at stake.
Hicklin, who was a third-string guard much of the season but was forced into duty after each of the top two guards suffered broken hands, had scored a total of 45 points all season and played just 154 total minutes before seeing 37 minutes on Friday.
“I actually tried not to think about it too much,” Hicklin said of the start in place of Tamaris Relerford, who broke his hand in the second round win over Lawrence.. “It was hard, though, with everyone coming up to me all week asking, ‘are you nervous?’ I just wanted to concentrate on not turning the ball over and I was more excited than nervous.”
Hicklin had just two turnovers for the game with both coming in the final 13:14. UW-Stevens Point also handled the Loggers’ pressure with 14 turnovers for the game against a defense that forces 23.3 per game.
“Tamaris really did a good job of remembering what he did against them last year and communicating that to me,” Hicklin said. “I wasn’t out there by myself tonight.”
The Pointers opened up with a quick start as Hicklin and Eric Maus combined to score the first 10 points for an early 10-5 lead. The Pointers gradually built on the lead before a 15-2 run gave UW-Stevens Point a 39-19 lead with 43 seconds left in the half. Puget Sound, which ranked sixth in the country in offense at 94.5 points per game, scored the final four points of the half against the Pointers’ second-ranked defense to pull within 39-23 at halftime.
UW-Stevens Point maintained its lead early in the second half before a 10-2 Puget Sound run pulled the Loggers within eight points at 51-43 with 12:54 left. The Pointers scored their next nine points from the line and eventually pushed the lead back to 17 points and 64-47 with 8:56 remaining.
The Pointers made 20 of 21 free throws in the second half and Hicklin was nine-for-nine for the game. Nick Bennett finished with 22 points while Maus matched a career-high with 18 points on seven-for-seven field goal shooting and four-for-four free throw accuracy. Jason Kalsow added another all-around performance of 16 points, seven rebounds and seven assists.
“As usual, this was another hard-fought, physical battle,” said UW-Stevens Point coach Jack Bennett, whose team beat the Loggers 100-79 last year. “They just come at you in waves. This was a good win.”
UW-Stevens Point used a zone defense throughout nearly the entire game to hold Puget Sound to 39.3 percent shooting for the game and its lowest point total of the season.
“I think the length of Stevens Point was a key,” Puget Sound coach Eric Bridgeland said. “We’re not used to that. We got a little tentative and we’re also young in the guard spots.”
The Loggers were led by Zack McVey with 19 points and Chase Curtiss with 17 points.