Coming off a conference win in their last game, UW-Eau Claire men’s basketball hosted No. 22-ranked UW-Stevens Point Pointers on Saturday, Feb. 7 at The Sonnentag Center. Stevens Point entered Saturday’s game on a two game winning streak, last defeating UW-Stout 63-51.
Saturday’s game represented the second matchup of the year between the teams. On Jan. 3, the Pointers handed the Blugolds their first loss of the season 78-75 in both teams’ Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (WIAC) openers.
In Saturday’s contest, 12 of the first 20 Pointers’ points came from the paint. During this stretch, the Pointers caused five Blugolds’ turnovers. The Blugolds entered the game with the third fewest turnovers in the WIAC at 207.
After allowing a Seth Miron three pointer, extending the Pointers’ lead to eight, the Blugolds went into a zone defense in their next defensive stand with less than five minutes left in the first half.
Blugolds’ Head Coach Zach Malvik said that the Blugolds played zone in their last game against UW-River Falls, and that it was very effective for them.
“They had a lineup in there we thought it could work,” Malvik said. “We forced a few turnovers so I thought that kind of changed the momentum a little bit in the first half.”
For the remainder of the half, the Pointers shot 2-6 from the field, committing two turnovers. Seven Blugolds’ free throws brought the Pointer lead down to two. Fourth-year forward Carter Lichtsinn led the Blugolds in scoring with seven points.
First-year guard Roan Demovsky scored five points off the bench for the Blugolds, while also drawing a defensive assignment in the Pointers leading scorer Josiah Butler. When guarded by Demovsky, Butler shot 0-4 from the field in the half.
Demovsky said playing off two feet was big in attacking downhill and drawing fouls against the Pointers.
“Not trying to force the issue [and] move the ball. All those things lead to good offensive possessions,” Demovsky said.
After a Tyler Haney layup tied the score at 32 to start the second half, the Pointers hit back-to-back three pointers after shooting 3-16 from three in the first half. With 9:03 left in the second half, a Butler three extended the Pointers’ lead to 19.
The Pointers never surrendered the lead, scoring 50 second-half points en route to a 82-66 win. Butler finished the game with 28 points on 50 percent shooting. In the second half, the Pointers went 7-9 from three.
Heading into the game, the Blugolds allowed 74.5 points per game in nine WIAC games.
The Blugolds shot an efficient 11/21 from the field in the second half, shooting nearly 49 percent from the field in the game, but struggled to match the Pointers in rebounding as they were outrebounded 38-18 in addition to the Pointers scoring 20 second chance points.
Moving forward, Malvik said the Blugolds need to be tougher defensively.
“It’s a toughness thing, win some one on one matchups,” Malvik said. “That’s gonna give us a chance to win those type of games.”
A foot injury suffered by third-year forward Will Boser led Demovsky to start in the second half. Demovsky finished the game third in scoring for the Blugolds with 10 points, alongside 24 minutes on the court, the second highest mark of his first collegiate season.
Demovsky said the Blugolds need to stick together in order to get back in the win column.
“(We’ve) just got to play harder than the other team. I think that’s our biggest issue right now,” Demovsky said.
In talking about Demovsky, Malvik said he is a tough player who does a lot of good things for the team.
“He’s going to continue to get better. He’s just a good basketball player,” Malvik said.
The Blugolds’ next win opportunity will come on Wednesday, Feb. 11 against UW-Oshkosh on the road.
Benes can be reached at [email protected].
