The University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point Men’s Basketball Team was ranked 3rd in the NCAA Division III West Region standings posted on February 28th.
The Pointers finished the NCAA Tournament with an overall record of 26-4. Stevens Point met St. Thomas and fell 66-64.
The Pointers’ Season
The Pointers met St. Thomas in the Sweet 16 and hoped to advance to the Elite Eight. This was not the case as St. Thomas won the close match 66-64. St. Thomas went on early 19-6 run and took a 5-point lead going into halftime. St. Thomas continued that lead with a 14-6 run at the start of the second half. With 2:19 left in the game, the Pointers hit a jumper that brought the game to within three points.
The Pointers hit another three and tied the game with seconds left in the game. Stevens Point was unable to stop the Tommies as they scored a jumper with 4 seconds left and couldn’t get a shot off.
The Pointers still have much to be proud of as they still claimed the WIAC regular season title, WIAC Tournament title, and won 26 games this season. Head Coach Bob Semling leads the Pointers but relies on Louis Hurd, Nick Krull, and Jerrel Harris to win.
About The Team
Head Coach Bob Semling is in his seventh season with the Pointers and has directed one of the premier programs in DIII. Semling has been voted NABC and D3Hoops.com Coach of the Year for last seasons efforts, along with being a two-time WIAC Coach of the Year. He has a 119-29 record in his first five seasons at the helm for Stevens Point and has won three WIAC regular season and four tournament titles.
Seniors Louis Hurd and Nick Krull, along with sophomore Jerrel Harris earned All-WIAC First Team honors this season. Team captain Hurd has started all games for the Pointers and averaged 11.4 points, 4.7 rebounds, and 1.2 steals per game.
He surpassed the 1,000-point mark in his career with 1,217 points. Krull also started in all games and averaged 5.3 points, 4.8 rebounds, 2.1 assists, and 1.3 steals per game. Harris was also named by the NABC and D3Hoops.com to the West Region Second Team. Harris led the Pointers in scoring with 15.3 points per game to go along with his 2.8 assists and 1.5 steals per game. He led the Pointers 14 of 27 times in scoring and had a career-high 28 points in the victory over UW-River Falls.
About The School
The University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point is located in Stevens Point, WI and has about 8,800 students with an average class size of 28. The university offers over 120 undergraduate choices within 48 undergraduate majors and 78 minors.
Half of all incoming freshman rank in the upper 25% of their high school class. In addition to the various academic courses, there are over 180 student organizations including student government, academic and professional clubs, Greek organizations, multicultural groups and community service/volunteer organizations.