STEVENS POINT, Wis. – The UW-Stevens Point men's basketball team closes out its regular season with road games against UW-Platteville and conference-leading UW-La Crosse this week, looking to secure a berth in the upcoming Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (WIAC) Championship.

THE BASICS
Who: UW-Stevens Point (13-10, 6-6 WIAC) at UW-Platteville (10-13, 4-8 WIAC)
When: Wednesday, Feb. 17 – 7 p.m.
Where: Platteville, Wis. – Bo Ryan Court

Who: UW-Stevens Point (13-10, 6-6 WIAC) at UW-La Crosse (15-8, 9-3 WIAC)
When: Saturday, Feb. 20 – 7 p.m.
Where: La Crosse, Wis. – Mitchell Hall

FOLLOW THE GAMES
Live video – Wednesday | Saturday
Live stats – Wednesday | Saturday
Live audio – Wednesday | Saturday

LAST WEEK
UW-Stevens Point picked up a pair of important victories in its playoff push last week, defeating UW-Stout 65-61 on the road on Wednesday and UW-Eau Claire 74-63 at home on Saturday.

On Wednesday, Stephen Pelkofer (Hales Corner, WI/Whitnall) scored 18 of his game-high 24 points in the second half as UW-Stevens Point overcame a seven-point halftime deficit to pick up a 65-61 win at UW-Stout. The senior did all his damage in the final 20 minutes from behind the arc, shooting 6-for-9 from long distance, to lead the come-from-behind victory. The Pointers used five threes during a 17-6 run in the second half to go ahead for good.

On Saturday, the Pointers used a balanced offensive attack with four players in double figures to earn a 74-63 win over UW-Eau Claire on Senior Day. Seniors Sean McGann (Baraboo, WI/Baraboo) and Pelkofer combined for 31 points, while Ethan Bublitz (Jackson, WI/Kettle Moraine Lutheran) poured in 16 and Zack Goedeke (Valders, WI/Valders) added 11. The Blugolds cut a 13-point deficit to just six midway through the second half and were within seven with 6:03 to go but the Pointers scored the next five and led by at least 10 the rest of the way.

ABOUT UW-STEVENS POINT | HOME | ROSTER | SCHEDULE | STATS
UW-Stevens Point's two victories evened the team's conference record at 6-6 and brought the Pointers' overall record to 13-10. The Pointers close out WIAC play with two road games, looking to improve on a 4-5 record on the road this season.

PLAYOFF PICTURE | WIAC STANDINGS
UW-Stevens Point is tied with UW-Whitewater for fifth in the WIAC standings, although the Warhawks hold the tiebreaker over the Pointers for playoff seeding by virtue of sweeping the two head-to-head meetings. The two teams are one game behind UW-Eau Claire and two behind UW-Oshkosh and UW-River Falls and have a two-game cushion on UW-Platteville for the final playoff spot.

The Pointers could be seeded anywhere between No. 3 and No. 6 for the upcoming WIAC Championship with two games remaining. UW-Stevens Point is three games behind WIAC leader UW-La Crosse (9-3) and cannot catch UW-River Falls (8-4) due to the Falcons' sweep of the Pointers.

A win over UW-Platteville on Wednesday would secure UW-Stevens Point's 18th consecutive berth in the WIAC Championship, as the Pointers have appeared in all 17 previous conference tournaments.

A TALE OF TWO GAMES
UW-Stevens Point found two different ways to win last week, excelling from behind the arc in the win at UW-Stout and winning Saturday's game against UW-Eau Claire at the free-throw line.

The Pointers made a season-high 12 three-pointers in the win over the Blue Devils and shot 48.0 percent from behind the arc. UW-Stevens Point had a season-high 17 assists on 22 made field goals in the game and made more threes (12) than twos (10).

UW-Stevens Point was just 5-for-17 (29.4 percent) from three-point range against the Blugolds but made a season-high 25 free throws on a season-high 33 attempts (75.8 percent). The Pointers also posted their best shooting game in two weeks, hitting at a 47.8-percent clip from the field.

PELKOFER'S SECOND-HALF SURGE
After averaging 10.3 points a game in the first 12 games of the season, Pelkofer has averaged 18.7 points per game in the last 11 games, going back to a Jan. 9 matchup at UW-Whitewater. The senior has scored in double figures in 10 of the 11 games, scoring nine in the other, and has had five 20-point games in the second-half of the regular season.

ABOUT UW-PLATTEVILLE | HOME | ROSTER | SCHEDULE | STATS
UW-Platteville has lost its last five games, all in WIAC play, to fall out of the playoff spots entering the week. The Pioneers surrendered an even 200 points in losses to UW-Whitewater at home and at UW-River Falls in overtime.

A career-high 30 points from Boston Johnson were not enough for UW-Platteville on Wednesday night in a 104-86 loss to UW-Whitewater. The Warhawks shot 56.4 percent from the field, including 13-for-23 (56.4 percent) from behind the arc, and got 50 points from Trinson White and Haki Stampley. The teams combined for 108 points in the second half alone.

On Saturday, five UW-Platteville players scored in double figures in a 96-88 overtime setback at UW-River Falls. Robert Duax led the way with 20, Johnson had 17 and Cory Vaassen had a double-double of 16 points and 11 rebounds. The Pioneers built a 14-point lead with 13:35 remaining in regulation but the Falcons forced the game to overtime on a pair of free throws with four seconds to go and controlled the overtime session.

The Pioneers ranked third in the WIAC in scoring (72.1 ppg) and are the top free-throw shooting team in the conference (83.1 percent) by over six percent. Johnson is the team's top-scorer, ranking sixth in the WIAC at 14.4 points per game, and rebounder at 6.7 boards a game. Vaassen (11.7 ppg) and Matt Oestreich (11.6 ppg) also average in double figures and Vaassen contributes 6.5 rebounds an outing.

ABOUT UW-LA CROSSE | HOME | ROSTER | SCHEDULE | STATS
After being picked seventh in the WIAC preseason poll, UW-La Crosse currently sits atop the conference standings with a 9-3 mark in the WIAC and is 15-8 overall. The Eagles saw a five-game winning streak snapped on Saturday with a narrow 62-60 loss at home against UW-Oshkosh. The setback also ended a seven-game home winning streak for UW-La Crosse, which is 8-2 on its home court this season.

UW-Oshkosh led UW-La Crosse 51-44 with 6:02 remaining on Saturday only for the Eagles to take a 60-59 lead inside the final minute. Max Schebel gave the Titans a 62-60 lead with six seconds remaining after splitting a pair of free throws. After a UWL timeout, the Eagles' Devin Yurk missed a potential game-winning three-pointer with one second remaining and Austin Fritz's layup off the miss was no good. Jared Staege scored 13 of his team-high 17 points in the second half for UW-La Crosse.

UW-La Crosse has used the top field-goal percentage defense (.390) and the top three-point shooting offense (.373) in the WIAC to sit atop the conference standings. In conference games, the Eagles are the top-shooting team in the WIAC, making 46.9 percent of their attempts from the field.

Staege is the WIAC's third-leading scorer at 15.2 points per game and Yurk (14.1 ppg) and Ben Meinholz (10.4 ppg) also average double-digit points a game. Staege's 51.3 percent field-goal percentage is third in the WIAC and he leads the conference in three-point shooting (.486).

THE COACHES
Bob Semling is in his 11th season as the head coach at UW-Stevens Point and has won four national championships with the Pointers. He led the Pointers to national titles in 2010 and 2015 as a head coach and was an assistant on the back-to-back national title teams of 2004 and 2005. Semling has a career record of 253-64 (.798), including a 138-32 (.812) mark in WIAC play. His .818 career winning percentage entering this season was the highest among active Division III coaches and ranks fourth all-time among all divisions for coaches with at least 10 seasons as a head coach.

This season is Jeff Gard's seventh as UW-Platteville's head coach and he has a career record of 106-77 (.579) with the Pioneers. In his first six seasons, Gard's teams have won at least eight WIAC games. He has also helped UW-Platteville extend its streak to 17 straight seasons of reaching the WIAC Tournament through last season. Gard was an assistant for the Pioneers for six seasons prior to being named head coach and also spent two seasons at Lakeland as an assistant.

Ken Koelbl is in his 13th season leading the UW-La Crosse men's basketball program and has led the Eagles to seven winning seasons in the last 10 years. He ranks second all-time in at UWL in victories, carrying a career record of 186-150 (.554). Koelbl led the Eagles to a 20-8 season in 2005-06 and the program's first NCAA Tournament bid in the same season. Prior to La Crosse, Koelbl served as an assistant at UW-Stevens Point from 1995-2003 and helped the Pointers to four consecutive WIAC championships.

SERIES NOTES
In a series that dates back to 1904, UW-Stevens Point holds a 94-77 lead over UW-Platteville. In the first meeting this season, the Pointers edged the Pioneers 60-57 at home on Jan. 13 on a Pelkofer three with 0.6 seconds remaining. The win was UW-Stevens Point's sixth in a row in the series and the Pointers have won five of the last seven in Platteville.

UW-Stevens Point leads the all-time series with UW-La Crosse by a wide 92-44 margin after knocking off the Eagles 69-67 on two McGann free throws with 15 seconds remaining on Jan. 23. at Bennett Court at Quandt Fieldhouse. The victory was the Pointers' fifth consecutive triumph over the Eagles and their 28th in the last 30 meetings since 2003. Over the same time, UWSP has won 11 of the last 13 at Mitchell Hall.