UW-L Falls to Fifth-Ranked UW-Stevens Point in Season Finale

For Immediate Release: Wednesday, Feb. 18, 2009

La Crosse, Wis. - The UW-La Crosse men's basketball team wrapped up its 2008-09 season with a 78-62 loss to fifth-ranked UW-Stevens Point Wednesday night in Mitchell Hall. The Eagles finish 10-15 overall and 4-12 in the WIAC while the Pointers improve to 21-3 overall and 14-1 in the conference. The Pointers clinched their league-leading 25th WIAC title in school history with their win Wednesday and losses by UW-Platteville and UW-Oshkosh. UW-Stevens Point has now won seven of the last 10 conference championships.

UW-L, under acting head coach Aaron Bonnett, took a 2-0 lead on Nick Papendieck's layup, but never led the rest of the game. UW-L accepted the recommendation from WIAC Commissioner Gary Karner Wednesday afternoon that head men’s basketball coach Ken Koelbl be suspended for Wednesday's contest. The recommendation came after the Eagles' 85-83 overtime loss to UW-River Falls Feb. 11.

UW-Stevens Point took a 3-2 lead on Pete Rortvedt's three-point field goal with 19:28 remaining in the first half and Khalifa El-Amin followed with another three-pointer to make it 6-2. UW-L cut the lead to 6-5 on a Rick Karius three-pointer, but Louis Hurd hit a pair of free throws and El-Amin scored on a layup for a 10-5 UW-Stevens Point lead.

The Eagles trailed 22-20 with 10:29 left, but the Pointers went on a 10-2 run to lead 32-22. UW-Stevens Point led by as many as 15 points in the first half before leading 42-32 at halftime.

Al Chery scored on a jumper for the first basket of the second half to cut the lead to 42-34, but UW-Stevens Point went on a 9-2 run to lead 51-36 with 16:11 remaining and UW-L could get no closer than 10 points the rest of the game.

Trevor Stratton led UW-L with 19 points and seven rebounds off the bench. Tony Mane and Kurt Kincaid each added nine points while Andy Merklein finished with eight. The Eagles shot 41.5% from the field, including 23.5% (four-of-17) from the field. The team was 14-of-15 (93.3%) at the free throw line.

El-Amin led UW-Stevens Point with 17 points while Matt Moses and Bryan Beamish each had 12. Jared Jenkins scored 11 points off the bench. The Pointers shot 49.1% from the field, including 38.9% (seven-of-18) from three-point range. The team was 15-of-17 (88.2%) at the line.