MBB: Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference

[bgbacker]

UW-EC down by 9 at the half (31-22) ... came back to beat UW-0 66-53. Nick Craggs had 20 ... 18 in the 2nd half. Osh 3x20 from 3 point range ... 2 of them came back-to-back from Wurtz. Fofana and Pfitzinger played well inside although Osh won the rebound battle 37-27. Ruh and Mielke did a very good job defensively on Schrempf (5 pts).

[East Beast]

As Schrimpf goes, UW-O goes. 

[badgerwarhawk]

The first half of the WARHAWK/LaCrosse game was a see-saw affair in which the lead changed seven times.  The WARHAWKS broke the pattern with a 8-1 run to go up 30-23 with about eight minutes remaining but LaCrosse answered with a 13-5 run to take the lead 36-35 before Chris Davis put in a lay up to give the WARHAWKS the lead at half time 37-36.  The second half started the same way with the lead going back and forth until it was tied for the thirteenth time 51-51 by a Al Cherry free throw with just under twelve and half minutes remaining.  A second free throw from Cherry gave LaCrosse their last lead 52-51.  A lay up by Alex Edmunds gave the WARHAWKS the lead for good but it stayed in single digits until the final minute of the game when a pair of free throws from Edmunds and a layup from Phil Negri pushed it to it's final margin 73-60.

Davis had another big night leading the WARHAWKS with a double-double 24 points, 10 rebounds.  Antone Byrd finished with 19 points, 6 assists and Edmunds finished with 16 points.   The WARHAWKS shot 53.7% from the floor to just 34.9% for the Eagles. 

Tony Mane led the Eagles with 15 points but it took him 23 shots to do it.  Al Cherry chipped in 14 points and led the Eagles with 6 rebounds.  I don't know why exactly but Cherry always seems to play pretty well against us.  Cory Degner had 12 oints and 5 assists.

I really liked the Eagles new away uniforms.  They're sharp looking. 

[cubs]

After looking at the play-by-play of last night's RF/SUP game, it looks like River Falls was able to "steal" one on the road.  Superior had a chance to take the lead at the FT line with 0:23 left, but missed not just one, but both FT's and were forced to foul.  (The misses were from a guy who shoots over 80% from the line in his career.)  Koonkaew made both of his FT's to make it a three point game, and Superior didn't even get a shot off, turning it over with 0:07 left.

This is going to be a great WIAC basketball season in my opinion!!!  Besides Stevens Point, you have some teams that are either on the rise (River Falls) or have some guys around who are in the third or fourth season as a starter (Superior and Stout.)  You have a team like Whitewater that is VERY athletic, and then a team like La Crosse, who has a guy in Mane who is able to go off for 40 points on any given night and pull out a victory.  Platteville seems to be the "wild card" as there are some new faces there, that may "gel" as the season goes along.  Eau Claire and Oshkosh appear to be bringing up the rear again, similar to last season.

[frodotwo]

The Pointers appear to be developing a pattern so far in their games. The first 10-12 minutes of the first half are spent feeling out the other team both on the offensive and defensive ends of the court and then they step up defense towards the end of the first half and continue that thru the rest of the game. I was surprised they only had 12 turnovers last night, it seemed like more. Stout did a great job getting open looks in the first 12 minutes and burying the shots, especially Hostetter. Nick Krull then proceeded to put a blanket on him in the second half limiting him to just two free throws made. Mahlon Thomas played very well, he's the best player that Point has seen thus far this year. The walking wounded are down to 3 now, Scott Pohle was in uniform. Still no Jared Jenkins, word has it that he has let some people know he won't be playing, but not the coaching staff. Can't believe that Semling would allow that, but he's a talented player. I don't know how long that can go on without causing friction with team chemistry of some sort.

[tomt4525]

I was at the Point/Stout game and I completely agree with the slow start Point had.  Despite Hostetter getting 15 points in the first half, Krull played solid defense all game.  Hostetter only had one open look that I can remember, the other shots he hit had Krull right in his face.  He is good player and tough to guard.  He runs you through screen after screen and is never stationary.  Olson was impressive last night for Stout.  Whenever Stout's offense broke down a little bit, Olson would take it to the hole and work some up and under moves on Giordana and Harris.  Mahlon Thomas had a solid showing, made some tough shots with Hoelzel all over him.  He got into foul trouble though.  Also, Harris made a mistake by challenging Thomas in the 2nd half and Thomas sent one of his shots back where it came from, impressive how high Thomas got.

For Point, Tyler Tillema didnt shoot well but really impressed me.  He missed a few short shots that he would normally make, doesn't do anything great but everything well.  He rebounds a lot better than I expected because I don't remember him being very athletic when I watched him at the high school state tournament.  Jerrell didn't do much, hit free throws down the stretch.  He also used his speed to get to some loose balls, that's about it out of him last night.  Dan Tillema started off really slow, but made some big shots down in the 2nd half.  Dan Tillema is an extremely valuable player because he can guard wings and posts, which he was doing last night.  Hoelzel had a solid game defensively but needs to work on his hands.  There were multiple times where guards drove and dropped of passes to Hoelzel for dunks or layups and balls would bounce of his hands and whatnot.  Krull was more aggressive offensively than I expected.  He still didn't take many shots or anything, but he was driving to the hole when given the opportunity.  Stout's gameplan must have been to see if Louis Hurd could beat them.  Stout gave him open look after open look in the 2nd half, by open look, i'm saying nobody within 4 or 5 yards of him.  His midrange game was on last night.  Abegglen is athletic and will be a solid player in the future, only played a couple minutes so I didn't see much from him offensively.  Ritchay got a lot of court time and played well.  He hit some open shots and didn't make mistakes.  The last thing from the game I'll say is that during warmups I found myself watching Mauch shoot and wondered to myself why he doesn't see the floor.  That kid didn't miss.

I would love for Jenkins to come back to play but I think Point has enough depth to overcome the loss, especially when Ziemer and Jackson are able to play.

[tomt4525]

Oops...forgot to mention Giordana's offense last night.  He was the lone bright spot for Point in the first half.  He is very valuable coming off the bench when you need a spark.  You can't afford to give him any open looks.  He stopped some Stout runs in the first half by knocking down a couple threes. 

[John Gleich]

A few points based off of your points...

I agree frodo, it seemed like Point had more turnovers than 12, and that's a product of how Stout plays.  They are very scrappy on defense and take a lot of chances defensively that can really hurt teams and did really hurt Point at times last night.  But if you can be disciplined and take what the defense gives you (because they WILL give you openings if they're gambling like that), then you can get relatively open primary and secondary fast break looks.  I think part of the problem in the first half last night for Point was that they were settling for easy outside shots whtn there were other easy inside shots that they could have gotten with a few more passes.  Now, like you guys said, the inside guys need to finish, and I remember a few TO's on passes that were dropped or missed layups (also off of dropped or fumbled passes).  Against a high-pressure defense like that, if you don't catch it cleanly, it gives them time to recover, and especially with a guy like Thomas on the inside (credited with two blocks, but he changed a several more shots than that) if you give him time to recover, he'll kill you.

Speaking of Thomas... He was ultra efficient.  4-6, 1-1 from 3, 6-7 from the line for 15 points.  Contrast that with Hostetter 5-14, 3-8 from deep, 4-4 from the line... Thomas is more efficient and gets to the line more.  I know it's more difficult to jam it inside than to jack a 3 and once it's in the post it's not likely going to come out... but the big guy's gotta get more touches!  Of the 5 starters, he was 4-6, and other than Hostetter, the other starters were 5-9, 1-8, and 2-10.  That's not spectacular.

Now, Stevens Point's defense is designed to do just that...  They want to take away easy looks and make you work for what you get (to contrast with Stout who tries to get steals on the front end and will give up easier things early, Point will pack it in and take away the easy stuff and make you work for what you get... and get steals when you try to do something that's much more difficult).  This has shown itself in the last 3 games... the opponents have shot worse percentages in the second half than the first.

Giordana just plain shoots well at Stout.  Last year, his best game was in Johnson Fieldhouse (6-9, 4-7 from 3), and this year he was 4-8, 3-6 from 3. 

I would love for Jenkins to come back to play but I think Point has enough depth to overcome the loss, especially when Ziemer and Jackson are able to play.

I think it will be great to get a mid-season boost of more depth.  Point got a nice Christmas gift of Ross Forman last year and having these guys available will just increase the chance that somebody is having "one of those nights" when they are on and there's nothing the opponent can do about it.

I haven't heard anything different about Jared, and until I do, I'm going to just believe that the team we've got (plus the walking wounded) is who we'll have... and I think that this is good enough for another run to Salem.  Jared would be icing on the cake, and if he decides to focus fully on football I wish him well.  I hope that works out for him.

And even if it doesn't, there's always the chance that he could come back next year and use up that last year of basketball eligibility.

[pickleshiner]

I was told Jenkins is moving to Florida after semester to prepare for the NFL combine.  He is not playing this year and cannot play next year.  Sucks but can't blame a guy who has a chance to play in the NFL and make a lot of money.  I'm assuming he's being looked at as a punter.  Doesn't seem fast enough to play WR and is a little undersized to play TE right now.  I'm just greatful he played two sports at Point and was a part of a title team last year.  Point just needs to get healthy and hopefully Jackson will be eligible starting with the St. Thomas game.

[Greek Tragedy]

So, what are all these injuries that everyone is talking about?

[Greek Tragedy]

If you missed the first game day of the WIAC Pick Em Pool, have no fear.  There is plenty of time to make up 4 games.  Where's oldgold, Pioneer Hoops Fan, BlueDevil Bob, among others?  New players are always welcome!

[John Gleich]

...cannot play next year.

Why is that?

[pickleshiner]

Was told the reason but cannot seem to remember why.  I was told by someone at UWSP that is 99.9% reliable and had wondered already if he could play next year.  Perhaps it is not correct.

[frodotwo]

So, what are all these injuries that everyone is talking about?

Ziemer had knee surgery, Pohle a broken foot and I think the same for Johnston, Resch a hand injury.

[UWRF]

www.pureradio887.com to hear the Point-RF game today!