STEVENS POINT, Wis. – The UW-Stevens Point men's basketball team advanced to the Final Four with a 45-28 win over East Texas Baptist, setting a NCAA Division III record for fewest points allowed in an NCAA Tournament game, on Saturday evening at Bennett Court at Quandt Fieldhouse.

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The victory sends UW-Stevens Point (25-5) to its fourth Final Four and its first since winning the 2010 national championship. The Pointers will face Virginia Wesleyan, who defeated top-ranked Randolph Macon 49-47 on Saturday, in the Final Four on Friday, March 20 at 8 p.m. at the Salem Civic Center in Salem, Va.

The 28 points allowed are seven fewer than the previous record from 2007 when Virginia Wesleyan defeated William Paterson 46-35. The eight first-half points allowed are tied for the second-fewest in program history, as the Pointers held the University of Dallas to seven points in a half on Dec. 29, 1996.

UW-Stevens Point led 23-8 at halftime after limiting ETBU to four field goals and 18.2 percent shooting (4-for-22) in the opening half. The Pointers held the Tigers scoreless for a stretch of 9:25 in the first half, as ETBU missed 11 shots in a row during a 14-2 UWSP run.

Alex Richard (Spring Green, WI/River Valley) made back-to-back-to-back layups during the run and Austin Ryf (Winneconne, WI/Winneconne) hit a three-pointer with four seconds to go in the half to send the Pointers to the locker room with a 15-point advantage. Stephen Pelkofer (Hales Corner, WI/Whitnall) had eight of his game-high 11 points in the first half, match ETBU's total for the half in the process.

UW-Stevens Point started the second half with three-pointers by Jordan Lutz (Amherst, WI/Amherst) and Pelkofer to stretch its lead to 29-8. However, the Tigers crept to within 14, 31-17, with 11:58 to go after a 13-2 run.

The Pointers then limited ETBU to four points in the next 4:52 to lead 38-21 with 7:02 to go but the Tigers never got closer than 14 the rest of the way. UW-Stevens Point has not trailed in any of its four NCAA Tournament games this season.

UW-Stevens Point entered the game with the nation's top-scoring defense (55.5 ppg) and held East Texas Baptist to 48 points under its season average. The fewest points the Tigers had scored in a game previously this season was 58.

In addition to Pelkofer's 11 points, Joe Ritchay (Wisconsin Rapids, WI/Lincoln) and Richard each added eight, while Ryf chipped in with seven. UWSP shot 37.8 percent (17-for-45) from the field in the game, including 43.5 percent (10-for-23) in the opening half.

Jamil Samuel finished with eight points, seven rebounds and four blocks to lead the Tigers, who shot just 1-for-15 (6.7 percent) from behind the arc. ETBU also committed 19 turnovers, which led to a 19-4 advantage in points off turnovers for UWSP. The Tigers shot 6-for-18 (33.3 percent) in the second half to finish at 25.0 percent (10-for-40) for the game.