STEVENS POINT, Wis. – The UW-Stevens Point men's basketball team opened its home schedule in dominating fashion by defeating St. John's University Tuesday night, 82-52.

Box Score

Holding on to a 15-13 lead midway through the first half, the Pointers put together a 21-0 run to grab a 36-13 advantage. The UWSP defense forced four turnovers during that stretch.

UWSP (3-0) shot 54.5 percent from the floor in the first half as it took a 45-25 lead into the break.

The Pointers' lead reached as high as 44 points when Austin Ryf (Winneconne, WI/Winneconne) connected on a pair of free-throws with just over five minutes remaining in the second half.

Tyler Tillema (Randolph, WI/Randolph) and Clayton Heuer (Wisconsin Rapids, WI/Lincoln/UW-Green Bay) led all scorers with 18 points apiece for the Pointers. Tillema added seven assists while Heuer shot 7-for-7 from the field.

Joe Ritchay (Wisconsin Rapids, WI/Lincoln) and Ryf also scored in double-figures with 10 points each. Jordan Lutz (Amherst, WI/Amherst) added eight points and eight rebounds in the winning effort.

The Pointer defense forced 24 turnovers and held the Johnnies (0-2) to just 35.4 percent shooting for the game.  

UWSP travels to Storm Lake, Iowa Saturday, Nov. 24 to take on Buena Vista University at 7 p.m.