STEVENS POINT, Wis. — The No. 9 UW-Stevens Point men’s basketball team rallied from a double-digit deficit to down Lawrence University 64-53 on Saturday in a non-conference game at Quandt Fieldhouse.
Sean McGann scored 20 points and Ethan Bublitz added 15 points and nine rebounds for the Pointers (4-3).
Jamie Nikitas paced Lawrence (3-4) with 18 points, and Jeremy Stephani added 15 points and nine rebounds for the Vikings. Mitch Willer also pulled down nine boards for Lawrence.
Lawrence led 32-25 at the half, but the Vikings went cold from the floor after the break. Lawrence shot just 29.6 percent (8-27) from the floor in the second half.
The Pointers chipped away at the advantage and finally took the lead at 43-41 on a pair of McGann free throws with 11:28 remaining. Stevens Point then stretched the lead thanks to an 11-2 run to grab a 57-45 edge with 3:27 left.
Lawrence would get no closer than 10 points after that.
The Vikings built a double-digit advantage by dominating the final 12 minutes of the first half.
The game was tied at 9-9, but Lawrence hit eight of its next 14 shots from the floor to pull away. The Vikings outscored Stevens Point 21-10 to take a 30-19 lead with 2:50 remaining in the first half. Nikitas scored nine points and Stephani added eight during that stretch.
Stevens Point then got a three-point play and a 3-pointer from Bublitz to trim the margin to seven points at the half.