Box Score

 LA CROSSE – The fourth-ranked UW-Stevens Point men's basketball team used a career-high effort from Jerome Wotachek (Mishicot/Mishicot) (Jr.-Mishicot) as it defeated UW-La Crosse 76-61 tonight at Mitchell Hall.

 Wotachek scored a career-high 17 points and had his second-highest rebounding total of his career with eight boards. He also had three blocks in the contest to add to his conference-best seven on the season.

 The Pointers never trailed in tonight's contest. Bryan Beamish (Wisconsin Rapids/Lincoln) (Jr.-Wisconsin Rapids/Lincoln) led off the night with three-pointer as the Pointers scored the first six points of the game. The Eagles cut the lead to one at the 13-minute mark, but the Pointers came right back outscoring the Eagles 10-3 over the next three minutes to extend its lead back to eight. Wotachek had six of the 10 points during that span. Stevens Point then ended the last seven minutes of the first half outscoring La Crosse 15-4 to take a 41-25 halftime lead.

 Stevens Point dominated the paint with a 24-4 scoring advantage down low and a 19-14 rebounding edge. The Pointers shot 57 % in the half, while the Eagles were held to 29 %.

 The Pointers then began the second half scoring the first six points to take its biggest lead of the game of 22. La Crosse would not give up that easy however as it came back to cut the lead to seven with just less than 10 minutes remaining. With the lead still seven at the 7:32-mark, the Pointers went on a 11-2 run over the span of four minutes to seal the deal as Stevens Point went on to win by a score of 76-61.

 The Pointers shot 52 % for the game and were just 4-for-15 from beyond the three-point line. The four three-pointers snap a streak of 31 straight games with at least seven three-point field goals. Stevens Point did their damage in the paint outscoring the Eagles 34-16 and outrebounding them 40-24.

 Along with Wotachek's 17 points, Bryan Beamish (Wisconsin Rapids/Lincoln) finished with a double-double with 16 points and a career-high 12 rebounds. Khalifa El-Amin (Milwaukee/Rufus King) (Jr.-Milwaukee/Rufus King) was the only other Pointer in double-figures as he had 11 points in the contest. Tony Mane had a game-high 20 points to lead the Eagles.

 The Pointers improve to a record of 4-1 overall and 1-1 in the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (WIAC). La Crosse drops to a record of 4-2 overall and 0-1 in the WIAC. Stevens Point has won 13 straight and 20 of the last 21 over the Eagles.

 The Pointers will play their final home game of the 2007 calendar year Saturday when they host Lawrence University in a non-conference matchup. The tip-off is scheduled for 7 p.m. in Quandt Fieldhouse. Team posters will be given away at the door.