Box Score UW-Stevens Point may have had only one statistic in its favor at halftime of Saturday's Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference men's basketball tournament championship game, but it was the one that mattered most.

UW-La Crosse had missed only five shots in the entire half and shot 73.7 percent, but the top-ranked Pointers still managed a one-point halftime lead and pulled away in the second half for an 83-68 victory for its third tournament title in four years and fourth all-time. The game was played in front of a near-capacity crowd of 2,326 at the Quandt Fieldhouse.

The Pointers clinched an automatic berth to their fourth NCAA Division III tournament in five seasons and are now 25-2 overall. UW-Stevens Point will likely be a top seed in the event, which begins next weekend. UW-La Crosse is 19-8 and will await a possible at-large berth. Teams for the tournament will be announced at about 9 p.m. Sunday night and pairings will be released Monday around 8 a.m.

UW-La Crosse, making its first title game appearance, began the game on fire from the field, hitting six of its first seven shots and 10 of its first 12 in building a 23-14 lead with 10:37 left in the half. However, UW-Stevens Point came to life from that point, streaking to a 14-point run as senior Jon Krull (pictured, above) scored the last four points to put his team ahead 27-23. The Pointers were able to extend their lead to six points at 36-30 as UW-La Crosse had eight turnovers in the final in the last 10 minutes, though the Eagles ended the half with a three-pointer by Chris Fehrenbach and a layup by Derek Wilcox to trail 36-35.

“I thought we clearly took their best shot in the first half,” Pointers' coach Bob Semling said. “Give them credit, they came into a tough environment and played their tails off. They hit big shots and made big plays, but we were able to overcome that.”

The Pointers held UW-La Crosse to 31.4 percent shooting in the second half while connecting on 53.6 percent of their own field goals. UW-Stevens Point finished at 51.8 percent for the game and was 12-for-32 from three-point range.

“Our second half just shows the resiliency and great composure of these guys,” Semling said. “They didn't get rattled. The game was really what you'd expect in a WIAC final with two very good teams.”

UW-Stevens Point led 41-39 at the 16:20 mark of the second half when it began to pull away. The Pointers scored six straight points for an eight-point lead, and after UW-La Crosse's Chris Ask scored the team's only made basket in a stretch of eight attempts, the Pointers followed with three-pointers on three straight possessions to complete a 15-2 run and take a 56-41 lead with 11:44 left.

Krull hit the first two three-pointers and Pete Rortvedt (Minocqua/Lakeland) followed with his first three-pointer of the game, giving the Pointers nine points in a span of 1:23. Rortvedt's three-pointer was his single-season school record 89th of the year. Rortvedt later hit consecutive three-pointers for the Pointers' biggest lead at 71-53 with 5:02 remaining.

UW-La Crosse clawed to within 10 points on three different occasions, but the Pointers had an answer each time and were nine-for-10 at the free throw line in the final three minutes.

“When you play a good team like Stevens Point you have to play a pretty solid game from start to finish, not perfect, but solid,” said Eagles' coach Ken Koelbl. “We played well in the first half, but I don't know that we did that in a whole game against them this year.”

UW-Stevens Point had an incredibly balanced attack with all five starters scoring between 13 and 16 points. Bryan Beamish (Wisconsin Rapids/Lincoln) led the way with a season-high 16 points. Drew Jackson (Milwaukee/Rufus King) also added seven points of the bench, hitting two key three-pointers after making three all season.

Joe Werner led the Eagles with 19 points and Fehrenbach had 16 points. UW-La Crosse tied a tournament record with a perfect free throw percentage in 13 attempts. The Eagles were the top defensive team in the WIAC at 61.0 points per game and allowed a season-high point total.

For the Pointers, it was their ninth straight win heading into the NCAA tournament. They also improved to 7-1 this year against ranked teams and 23-3 over their last 26 such contests. UW-Stevens Point has also won 21 of its last 22 postseason games, including 10 of its last 11 in the WIAC tournament. The Pointers won their three postseason games by a combined 74 points, which was the most lopsided run in WIAC tournament history.

“We've been through so many battles and learned to win a lot of different ways,” Semling said. “These young men have made their mark on a rich tradition and I hope there's a few more memories out there for them.”