Box Score

STEVENS POINT - The Pointer men's basketball team closed out the first half on a 24-6 run, holding the Blue Devils of UW-Stout to just 8-of-24 shooting in the opening half as the UW-Stevens Point men's basketball team cruised to an 80-59 victory over the Blue Devils in the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (WIAC) opener for both teams.

After both teams struggled in the game's opening minutes to find a rhythm, the Pointers hit their stride at the 7:18 mark when Jerrel Harris (Whitefish Bay) knocked down a three-point basket, a shot that sparked the Pointers 24-6 run to close out the half, as they built a 41-21 halftime advantage.

Early in the second half, the Blue Devils cut the deficit to 16, 45-29, with 16:22 remaining, but the Pointers righted the ship and pushed the advantage back to 20 and held the edge for almost the remainder of the second half, cruising to the 21 point victory.

Jared Jenkins (Milwaukee) led the way for the Pointers with 16 points and four rebounds in his first start of the season while Louis Hurd (Portage) and Scott Hoelzel (Kaukauna) eached chipped in 14 points. Hoelzel added a game-best 11 rebounds for his second double-double of the year. Dan Tillema (Randolph) came in off the bench to finish as the fourth Pointer in double figures, chipping in 13 points on 5-of-7 shooting from the floor.

UW-Stout's Jerrel Enerson-Matthews led all scorers with 21.

The fifth-ranked Pointers (6-0, 1-0 WIAC) return to action on Saturday, Dec. 5 when they travel to UW-River Falls as part of a men's and women's doubleheader. Game time is scheduled for 5 p.m.