Box Score
ROCK ISLAND, Ill. – The third-ranked UW-Stevens Point men's basketball team went on the road and took down fifth-ranked Augustana College 73-63 tonight at the Carver P.E. Center.
The Pointers are now 9-1 overall, while the Vikings fall to a record of 9-2. Stevens Point improves to 2-0 against the Vikings all-time and is currently on a six-game winning streak.
Augustana scored the first four points of the game, but Stevens Point came back to score the next five points to take its first lead with 16:47 on the clock. The Pointers game themselves some breathing room midway through the first half outscoring the Vikings 20-9 over the span of 10 minutes to take a 27-16 lead with under six minutes left in the first half. Augustana scored six of the final eight points of the first half to make the halftime score 31-25 Stevens Point.
Stevens Point shot 41 % in the first half, while the Vikings shot 39 % in the half. The Pointers forced 14 Augustana turnovers that led to 11 points. The Pointers bench scored 18 points in the first half, led by Louis Hurd (Portage/Portage) (Fr.-Portage), who had seven points. Stevens Point didn't shoot a free throw in the first half, while Augustana was 6-for-8.
The Vikings came out early in the second half and cut the Pointer lead to 33-31. However, Stevens Point responded and took a 10-point lead once again following a Pete Rortvedt (Minocqua/Lakeland) (Jr.-Minocqua/Lakeland) three-point field goal with 11:36 remaining in the game.
A 9-2 run by Augustana cut the lead down to three with six minutes left, but it was Pete Rortvedt (Minocqua/Lakeland) again, who responded with a three-pointer to give the Pointers a six-point lead with 4:30 showing on the clock.
The Pointer lead was 10 again with two minutes left, but Stevens Point could not put Augustana away as the Vikings got the lead down to four with 36 seconds left. Stevens Point, who had struggled from the free throw line up to that point made its final eight free throw attempts to seal the victory as the Pointers won by a score of 73-63.
Stevens Point shot 54 % in the second half to finish at 46 % for the game. Augustana shot 41 % for the game. The Pointer bench finished with 39 points on the night and was led Pete Rortvedt (Minocqua/Lakeland) with 15 points, all of which coming from behind the three-point line. Rortvedt had missed the previous three games due to injury. His brother, Ross Rortvedt (Minocqua/Lakeland) (So.-Minocqua/Lakeland), finished with 13 points off the bench and made six of the final eight free throws of the game. Steve Hicklin (Sussex/Hamilton) (Sr.-Sussex/Hamilton) added 12 points. Bryan Beamish (Wisconsin Rapids/Lincoln) (Jr.-Wisconsin Rapids/Lincoln) had a team-high eight rebounds and Khalifa El-Amin (Milwaukee/Rufus King) (Jr.-Milwaukee/Rufus King) had solid game with six points, four steals, three assists and no turnovers. Brett Wessels had a game-high 17 points for the Vikings.
The Pointers next game will be New Year's Day when they travel to California to face California Lutheran. That game is scheduled to begin at 9:30 p.m. Stevens Point time.
