EAU CLAIRE, Wis. – The No. 19 UW-Stevens Point men's basketball team limited UW-Eau Claire to 30.2 percent shooting and won a low-scoring battle 49-40 on Saturday evening at Zorn Arena.
Box Score UW-Stevens Point (16-4, 10-1 WIAC) held UW-Eau Claire (7-12, 3-7 WIAC) to five field goals in the first half and eight in the second but led by just two with 51 seconds remaining.
Following a Jack Martinek layup,
Austin Ryf (Winneconne, WI/Winneconne) was fouled and made a pair of free throws to give UWSP a 44-40 lead.
Alex Richard (Spring Green, WI/River Valley) then made a steal, was fouled and made one of two at the line.
Down by five, the Blugolds' Jacob Kohner missed a three with 29 seconds remaining and Ryf made two more free throws to put the game out of reach. Ryf was 10-for-10 from the free-throw line, all in the second half, on his way to a 12-point, six-rebound, five-assist performance.
Richard joined Ryf in double figures with 11 points and the pair were the only two players in the game to hit double digits.
Jordan Lutz (Amherst, WI/Amherst) and
Joe Ritchay (Wisconsin Rapids, WI/Lincoln) each chipped in with eight, while
Caden Untiedt (Edgar, WI/Edgar) hit a pair of threes in the first half.
UW-Stevens Point led 21-18 at the half but UW-Eau Claire started the second half quickly with two three-pointers by Tyson Kalien in the first minute to go up 24-21. Later, George Diekelman's three, UWEC's fourth of the half, gave the hosts a 32-28 lead with 12:08 remaining.
The Blugolds would go on to build a 36-28 lead midway through the second half before the Pointers went on a 16-2 run that ended in the final minute. Lutz's three-pointer with 3:50 to go tied the score at 38-38 and Ryf's free-throw shooting closed out the win.
In the first half, UW-Stevens Point trailed 7-4 but used a 17-3 run to take a 21-10 lead with 7:48 to go until halftime. Untiedt's back-to-back threes closed out the run but the Blugolds scored the final eight points of the half. Neither team scored in the final 4:23 of the first half.
Jack Martinek led UW-Eau Claire with nine points on 4-for-11 shooting, while Kalien had eight.
UW-Stevens Point committed just four turnovers in the game and forced 13 UW-Eau Claire turnovers. The differential resulted in a 16-9 advantage in points off turnovers for the Pointers.
UWSP hosts UW-River Falls on Wednesday, Feb. 4 at 7 p.m. at Bennett Court at Quandt Fieldhouse.
