STEVENS POINT, Wis. – The UW-Stevens Point men's basketball team used a balanced offensive attack with four players in double figures to earn a 74-63 conference victory over UW-Eau Claire on Senior Day on Saturday afternoon at Bennett Court at Quandt Fieldhouse.
 
Box Score
 
Seniors Sean McGann and Stephen Pelkofer were two of the four double-figure scorers for UW-Stevens Point (13-10, 6-6 WIAC), as McGann scored a game-high 17 points and Pelkofer had 14. Ethan Bublitz and Zack Goedeke were also in double figures with 16 and 11, respectively, for the Pointers, who earned a season split with UW-Eau Claire (14-9, 7-5 WIAC).
 
The Blugolds cut a 13-point deficit to just six at 51-45 midway through the second half and were within seven with 6:03 left, trailing 56-49. However, UW-Stevens Point built a 61-49 lead by scoring the next five points and led by at least 10 the rest of the way.
 
The Pointers led by as many as 16 in the final three minutes after making eight consecutive free throws. UW-Stevens Point led for 31:29 in the game and the final UW-Eau Claire lead as 17-16 at the 8:12 mark of the first half.
 
McGann scored 12 of his 17 points in the second half and finished 4-for-9 from the field and 9-for-10 from the free-throw line, where UW-Stevens Point was 25-for-33 (75.8 percent) in the game and 20-for-27 (74.1 percent) in the second half. Nine of Pelkofer's 12 points came after the break and he added five rebounds and four assists.
 
Bublitz finished with 16 points on an efficient 4-for-6 from the floor and 7-for-8 from the line. The freshman guard also contributed a team-high seven rebounds and three steals. Goedeke was 4-for-6 from the field and 3-for-5 from the charity stripe on his way to 11 points and six boards.
 
Jack Martinek paced UW-Eau Claire with 14 points on 6-for-13 shooting and was one of three Blugolds in double figures. George Diekelman scored all 12 of his points in the second half, while Tyson Kalien had 11. Jared Schneidermann and Chris Duff combined for 16 points and 19 rebounds.
 
UW-Eau Claire was just 6-for-27 (22.2 percent) from behind the arc as part of a 36.7 percent shooting game. UW-Stevens Point shot over 47 percent in both halves to finish at 47.8 percent.
 
The Blugolds took a 13-8 lead in the early stages before the Pointers went ahead behind an 8-0 run. The teams were locked at 22-22 with 5:59 remaining in the first half but UW-Stevens Point went on a 10-0 run to go up by 10 late in the half. The Pointers led 32-25 at the break after a first half that featured seven lead changes.
 
The victory was UW-Stevens Point's 30th in the last 32 meetings with UW-Eau Claire and was the 17th consecutive home win for the Pointers in the series. It was also the final home regular-season game in the careers of McGann, Pelkofer and Bill Patterson, who have helped the Pointers go 90-23 in the last four seasons.
 
UW-Stevens Point plays a pair of road games next week in its pursuit of a berth in the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (WIAC) Championship, beginning with a game at UW-Platteville on Wednesday, Feb. 17 at 7 p.m.