STEVENS POINT, Wis. – The UW-Stevens Point men's basketball team (11-1, 1-0) handed No. 20 UW-Eau Claire (11-1, 0-1) its first loss of the year with a 78-75 win in the conference opener.
 
Cal Krohn (Waukesha, Wis./Waukesha West) led all scorers with 21 points. Josh Bocher (Kewaskum, Wis./Kewaskum) had a season-high 17 points and led UWSP with eight rebounds and three blocks. Seth Miron (Appleton, Wis./Kimberly) also was in double figures with 15 points.
 
Carter Combs (Stevens Point, Wis./SPASH) buried a three in the opening minute for the first lead of the game. Bocher made his first bucket of the game for a 12-11 edge in the back-and-forth first half. Max Raimer (Sun Prairie, Wis./East) drained a three-pointer for a 19-17 advantage.
 
Bocher drove the lane and threw down a dunk for a brief 27-24 lead. Miron added four points and a late layup by Krohn gave UWSP a 35-33 lead at halftime.
 
Bocher opened the scoring in the second half for the Pointers. Krohn added eight points as the lead grew to 47-42. Bocher added four-straight and Logan Baumgartner (Medford, Wis./Medford) nailed a triple, but the Pointers couldn't shake the Blugolds.
 
Bocher added five more points, including an and-one, as the lead was 66-58. Miron and Josiah Butler (Appleton, Wis./Fox Valley Lutheran) each had a layup to push the lead to 10. UWSP made 6-of-8 free throws in the final 1:09 and UWEC missed a potential game-tying three in the final seconds.
 
The Pointers will travel to UW-Whitewater on Wednesday (Jan. 7) for a 7:00 p.m. league matchup.