Box Score Box Score

Box Score

EAU CLAIRE, Wis. - The 12th-ranked UW-Stevens Point men's basketball team fell behind early against UW-Eau Claire and could not recover, falling 77-58 in its regular-season finale on Saturday at Zorn Arena.

The first half was all Blugolds as the home team bolstered as much as an 18-point lead in the first half. UWEC came out red-hot, connecting on 57.7 percent of its field goals in the half compared to 30.4 for UWSP.

Alex Richard (Spring Green, WI/River Valley) cut the UWEC lead to 12 points on a layup with under a minute remaining in the half as the Blugolds went into the break with a 42-30 advantage.

In the second, UWEC kept the game margin at 10-plus points for most of the half. UWSP brought the game within eight points on four occasions, but could not come any closer as the Blugolds were victorious 77-58.

Dan Tillema (Randolph, WI/Randolph/Minnesota-Duluth) led the Pointers with 17 points while Joe Ritchay (Wisconsin Rapids, WI/Lincoln) tallied a career-high 10 points off the bench. Junior Jordan Giordana (Kaukauna, WI/Kaukauna) also tallied 10 points connecting on two three-pointers. Jordan Brezinski (Muskego, WI/Muskego) grabbed a game-high seven rebounds.

Jordan Petersen led all scorers with 23 points on 7-of-16 shooting and Dustin Kalien added 14 points and six rebounds in the victory.  

For the game, the Pointers shot a season-low 32.1 percent from the field while the Blugolds connected on 48.1 percent of their attempts.

UW-Stevens Point (19-6, 12-4 WIAC) will return to action to take part in the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (WIAC) Tournament next week. The Pointers will be the third seed and host UW-Superior on Wednesday at 7 p.m.

For more information on the WIAC Tournament, click here.