It took all of three minutes for the nation's top Division III men's basketball team to assert themselves Saturday afternoon at Mertz Mortorelli Gymnasium.
And unfortunately for the UW-Superior men's basketball team, it all added up to a difficult day in front of the home fans.
UW-Stevens Point, rated No. 1 in the latest D3hoops.com top-25 poll, jumped out to an early 11-point lead and never looked back on the way to posting an impressive 86-69 win over the Yellowjackets that drops UW-Superior to 4-10 overall and 1-4 in WIAC action.
The Pointers meanwhile improved to 14-0 overall and 5-0 in league play with the victory.
UW-Stevens Point wasted no time getting off to a hot start, as Trevor Hass connected on a three-pointer on the game's first possession to give the Pointers a 3-0 lead.
The Yellowjackets responded with a long jumper from Caleb Burch (Eau Claire, Wis./Altoona) to come within 3-2 with 19:12 remaining in the opening half.
But the Pointers went on to score the next 10 points to take a 13-2 lead on two free throws by Tyler Tillema with 16:40 showing on the clock.
UW-Superior attempted to come back, cutting the deficit to 13-8 on a layup by Jarrod Peterson (Plymouth, Minn./Wayzata) with 14:43 left in the first half.
UW-Stevens Point went to score the next seven points however to take a 20-8 lead on a three-point shot by Austin Ryf at the 13:09 mark.
From there, the Pointers continued to hold a double-digit for most of the rest of the half before expanding their advantage to 49-33 on a tip-in by Alex Richard in the last 18 seconds of the action.
The second half provided more of the same as the Pointers built their lead to as many as 21 and were never threatened as the closest UW-Superior came was 74-61 on a layup by Zach Schradle (Clayton, Wis./Clayton) with 4:51 left in the contest.
Offensively, the Yellowjackets were led by Peterson with 16 points while Burch had 12 and Schradle 11.
The Pointers were led by Tillema with a game-high 26 points. Clayton Heuer added 20 points while Hass and Ryf finished with 18 and 12 points respectively.
The Yellowjackets hit the road to face UW-Eau Claire Wednesday night. Opening tipoff is scheduled for 7 p.m. The game can be heard live on 91.3 FM KUWS with Matt Johnson on the call.