No. 5 Augie falls to No. 3 Wisconsin-Stevens Point
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By Steve Batterson | Monday, December 31, 2007 |
Talya C. Arbisser/QUAD-CITY TIMES Augustana’s Mike Avallone defends against Wisconsin-Stevens Point’s Steve Hicklin, who finished with 12 points. Buy this Photo
Wisconsin-Stevens Point basketball coach Bob Semling had seen it all before.
He just didn’t expect Pete Rortvedt to show up in time to rescue the third-ranked
Pointers when they needed him the most Saturday night.
Rortvedt, who missed his team’s past three games to allow a knee injury to heal, delivered in the clutch repeatedly to help Wisconsin-Stevens Point hold off fifth-ranked Augustana 73-63 in a matchup of two of the nation’s elite NCAA Division III programs.
The 6-foot-5 junior forward answered every challenge the Vikings threw at him as they attempted to rally from a deficit created by 14 first-half turnovers.
When Augustana cut the Pointers’ 31-25 halftime lead to two points, it was Rortvedt who knocked down a pair of 3-pointers to finish off a 14-4 run.
And later after a putback by Dain Swetalla inched the Vikings within 56-53 with 41/2 minutes remaining, it was a 3-pointer by Rortvedt that opened a string of seven unanswered points by the Pointers.
It all added up to 5-of-10 shooting from behind the arc and a 15-point performance for Rortvedt, who led a group of three Pointers in double figures.
“Going back to watching him in high school, he’s always been a player who has a knack for making the big shot,’’ Semling said. “He has so much confidence in his shooting I should have expected, but after the layoff it was a little surprising. It was a team win, but he made the difference.’’
One thing that didn’t surprise Semling was the intensity of the early-season matchup.
“We couldn’t get away from Augustana. We’d get by a few points, and they’d keep reeling us back in, but that’s what you get when you have two ranked teams going at it,’’ Semling said. “This was a game that both teams will learn from.’’
The lesson that Vikings coach Grey Giovanine wanted his team to take from the game involved the importance of valuing the basketball.
Augustana committed 14 turnovers in the opening half, something which forced the Vikings to play from behind for the final 35 minutes.
Wisconsin-Stevens Point (9-1) outscored Augustana off of turnovers 11-2 over the first 20 minutes, building a lead that grew as large as 11 points.
“The turnovers early were costly,’’ Giovanine said. “In the first half, I felt we did a decent job defensively against a very good team. We limited them to 31 points, competed hard, and being down six at the half given our turnover issues, I didn’t felt that bad about where we were at.’’
The Vikings (9-2) managed to come as close as two points twice, both in the opening minutes of the second half.
Augustana played its way back into the game by working the ball into the paint, where Swetalla scored all eight of his points in the final half, and both Brett Wessels and Alex Washington found either an open path to the basket or an opportunity to go to the free-throw line.
Wessels led all scorers with 17 points, while Washington contributed 10 of his 14 in a second half that saw the Vikings help themselves by turning the ball over three times.
Wisconsin-Stevens Point sealed its victory by connecting on eight straight free throws in the final 36 seconds.
“We had our chances. We were down three late and had a good look that didn’t fall,’’ Giovanine said. “We ended up getting beat by a terrific team on a night when we didn’t play as well as we needed to play. They had something to do with that.’’
Semling saw that as well, especially on the defensive end of the floor.
“By our count, we had about 30 deflections and to get a hand on that many balls, that disruption really helped us,’’ Semling said. “For 40 minutes, that was the best defense we’ve played and Augustana brought that out of us. We needed that type of effort to get out of here with a good win.’’
Steve Batterson can be contacted at (563) 383-2290 or sbatterson@qctimes.com. Comment on this story at qctimes.com.
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