By John Kemmeter

The University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point (UWSP) men’s basketball team went on the road and knocked off second ranked UW-Whitewater (14-3, 4-2) Wednesday, Jan. 17, and then came back from a second-half deficit to beat UW-Platteville (14-3, 4-2) at home Saturday, Jan. 20, to remain alone at the top of the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (WIAC) standings at 6-0.

Junior forward Canon O’’Heron goes up to score with 1:58 left to break a 66-66 tie and give the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point (UWSP) men’’s basketball team the lead for good at 68-66, in its 80-74 win over UW-Platteville at Bennett Court at Quandt Fieldhouse Saturday, Jan. 20.
(John Kemmeter photo)

The Pointers (12-5) were set to close out the first half of the WIAC season at 19th-ranked UW-Oshkosh (13-4, 3-3) Wednesday, Jan. 24, before they play at UW-La Crosse (10-7, 2-4) at 5 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 27, and host Whitewater at Bennett Court at Quandt Fieldhouse at 7 p.m. Wednesday, Jan. 31.

“The focus we’re trying to keep our guys on is, ‘don’t look at the finish line, this is a marathon, it’s not a sprint, we’re only just getting to the halfway point and we’ve got a long way to go,’” said UWSP men’s basketball head coach Bob Semling. “We’ve adopted a theme, ‘the first team to 12,’ just to get our guys focused on not getting caught up in the fact that we’re 6-0, but getting us focused on, ‘it’s going to take 12 wins to win this league outright, or maybe that’ll be a share.’

“Platteville can still get there, Whitewater can still get there, and we obviously can still get there,” he said. “So, we want to roll up our sleeves and just stay on task and continue to get back to work.”

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Holding on to a 73-70 lead and the shot clock winding down, junior guard Drew Fredrickson (22) reacts after he buried a three-pointer with 38 seconds left to give the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point (UWSP) men’’s basketball team a 73-67 lead in its 80-74 win over UW-Platteville Saturday, Jan. 20.
(John Kemmeter photo)