Box Score It's a bad time for a bye week as far as the UW-Stevens Point men's basketball team is concerned as the Pointers continued their dominating play during the new year with a 77-43 rout at UW-Eau Claire on Wednesday.

UW-Stevens Point has now won its four January games by an average of 40.0 points as it improved to 14-1 overall and 7-0 in the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference heading into a full week off. It marks the Pointers' first 7-0 league start since 1982-83 and the first by any WIAC team since UW-Platteville in 1998-99.

The Pointers, ranked No. 1 in the NCAA Division III, won this time in slightly different fashion, using more of an inside attack than their recent three-point shooting barrages. UW-Stevens Point was still eight-for-17 from three-point range, but snapped a string of seven straight games with at least 10 three-pointers. Overall, the Pointers shot a scorching 57.7 percent from the field, including 61.9 percent in the second half.

Pete Rortvedt (Minocqua/Lakeland) led all scorers with 18 points and did most of his work in the early moments, helping the Pointers to a quick start. The sophomore hit his first five shots, including three three-pointers, while scoring 15 of the team's first 25 points over the first 10:30 of the game.

UW-Stevens Point led 19-16 with 10:41 left in the first half when back-to-back Rortvedt three-pointers keyed a 19-1 run over the next 7:12 of the game. UW-Eau Claire missed all seven shots and had five turnovers during the span and eventually trailed 43-24 at halftime.

Rortvedt opened the second half with a short jumper and a three-pointer as the Pointers maintained at least a 20-point lead throughout the final 15:56 of the game. No player played more than 24 minutes for the Pointers, who lead the country in fewest turnovers per game and had just six on Wednesday, including one in the first half.

Jon Krull added 15 points and Bryan Beamish (Wisconsin Rapids/Lincoln) had 10 points for UW-Stevens Point, while Steve Hoelzel had 15 points to lead UW-Eau Claire. Hoelzel's brother, Scott, had five points in nine minutes off the bench for the Pointers.