APPLETON, Wis. — A surge midway through the second half allowed the UW-Stevens Point men’s basketball team to pull away Saturday and post a 69-50 nonconference win over Lawrence University at Alexander Gymnasium.
Ethan Bublitz recorded a double-double with 19 points and 11 rebounds for the Pointers (2-2), and Mark Nelson added 10 points and eight boards.
Ben Peterson came off the bench to lead Lawrence (0-2) with 14 points. Peterson went 4-for-5 from beyond the arc. Mitch Willer added 10 points and a team-best eight rebounds to go along with a game-high four blocks for the Vikings.
Lawrence trailed 34-27 at the half, but the Vikings made a run at the Pointers to start the final 20 minutes. Lawrence outscored Stevens Point 15-9 over the first 7:08 of the second half, and Jeremy Stephani’s jumper cut the margin to 43-42.
The Pointers responded by scoring the game’s next 10 points, including back-to-back 3-pointers from Bublitz and Luke Zuiker, to stretch the lead to 53-42 with 10:17 remaining.
Stephani, who finished with seven points, four rebounds and three assists, hit a 3-pointer to stop the run and cut the margin to 53-45. That’s as close as the Vikings would get as the Pointers slowly pulled away.
The final margin was Stevens Point’s biggest lead of the game.
Stevens Point jumped out to a 9-0 to start the game, but Lawrence answered quickly. Pete Winslow and Peterson hit 3-pointers to open the scoring for Lawrence, and that started a 16-5 for the Vikings. Peterson capped the outburst with his third 3-pointer of the first half to give Lawrence a 16-14 lead with 12:06 left in the first.
The game was tied at 20-20 when Stevens Point hit seven of its final 14 shots of the half to pull ahead. Lawrence turned the ball over five times in the final 7:16 of the first half, and Stevens Point led 34-27 at the break.