Blue Devils can't hold off Pointers in home finale

UW-Stevens Point 70, UW-Stout 67 | Photo Gallery | Video Replay

MENOMONIE (February 19, 2020) – This one was really a tale of two halves as UW-Stout outplayed UW-Stevens Point in the first half, but the Pointers overcame a 19 point deficit and defeated the Blue Devils, 70-67, Wednesday on Dewey Mintz Court in Johnson Fieldhouse.

Stout (5-19, 1-12 WIAC) could hardly miss in the first half as the Blue Devils shot 50 percent (15-30) from the floor, including five 3-pointers. Luke Geiger and Jon Ciracks were in double figures by the break, Geiger with 13 and Ciriacks with 10. 

On other end of the court, the Pointers could seem to find the basket, hitting only 28.6 percent of their shots (8-28) and only three players had scored as Stout took a 39-22 halftime lead. The Pointers hurt their own cause by committing 11 first half turnovers. 
 
The Pointers (15-9, 7-6 WIAC) trailed 43-24 at the 18:50 mark of the second half and again trailed by 19 points, 55-36, at 12:13, before exploding for a 13-0 run over the next three-plus minutes to reduce the gap to 55-49 with 8:11 remaining. Ethan Bublitz had five points in the run for Stevens Point.
 
The Pointers tied the score at 57-57 at 6:44 on a 3-pointer by Brandon Spray. Zach Mootz gave Stevens Point their first lead of the game at 5:43 on a jumper and the Pointers never trailed again, building as much as a 10 point lead.
 
The Blue Devils pulled to within two points, 69-67, on Ciriacks' 3-pointer with 44 seconds remaining. Josh Mericle drew iron on a 3-point attempt with nine seconds left, but Blake Erhke pulled down the rebound and hit one free throw for the final score of the game.
 
Only five Pointers scored tonight with Spray leading the way with a game-high 19 points. Bublitz finished with 16, Erhke with 14 and Matt Koerner with 13. Mootz scored eight points. Ehrke had a double-double with 13 boards.
 
Ciriacks led Stout with 17 points, followed by Geiger with 15 and Cliff McCray with 13. Geiger racked up a double-double with 10 rebounds.
 
Stout shot 44.6 percent (25-56) from the field for the game. The Pointers shot 28.6 percent (8-28) in the first half and 55.6 percent (15-27) in the second half to finish at 41.8 percent (23-55) for the game.

Stout will close out the season when they travel to UW-Whitewater, Saturday, Feb. 22 for a 3 p.m. contest.