STEVENS POINT, Wis. - Though the UW-Eau Claire men's basketball team pulled off the upset over the No. 2 seed on Monday, it could not continue its run in the conference tourney as UW-Stevens Point defeated the squad 88-65 tonight.

The Pointers were seeded third and ranked eighth in the country while Eau Claire was the seven seed. The Blugolds knocked off second-seeded UW-Platteville by four points to reach this point. Stevens Point survived an overtime scare from sixth-seeded UW-La Crosse in round one.

Though Eau Claire hung around for half of the first, Stevens Point did not have the same kind of scare as Monday. After 17:26 in the first, they held the lead the rest of the way. Both teams traded buckets to start the game. Eau Claire then fell behind 4-2 before Geoff Probst (So.-Moose Lake, MN) hit a three to give the Blugolds their only lead of the game.

At 15:47, the score was 12-9, but the Pointers went on an 18-6 run that lasted until 7:45. That made the game 30-15 Stevens Point. The margin would not get into single digits the rest of the way. Eau Claire did keep it below 15 the rest of the half and even knocked it down to 10 at 1:47. The Pointers had a 46-33 advantage going into the locker rooms.

Steve Hicklin led the Pointer attack in the first, making three treys and scoring 13 points. They shot 58.6 percent from the floor while Eau Claire made exactly half of their shots. Stevens Point went 5-of-9 (55.6 percent) from long range and 7-of-8 (87.5 percent) on free throws. Eau Claire shot 3-of-5 (60.0 percent) on threes and 2-of-4 (50.0 percent) from the line.

The second half started out with a back-and-forth flow until a 10-4 Pointer run at 17:21. That made the margin 18. Eau Claire did a good job of keeping it under 20, but the Pointers were too much and made the score 70-49 at 9:18. The Pointers secured the lead down the stretch and won 88-65.

The Blugolds' shooting percentage dropped to 34.6 percent in the second half while Stevens Point shot 46.9 percent. Both teams saw more time at the line, with Eau Claire going 13-for-19 (68.4 percent) and the Pointers making 10-of-15 (66.7 percent). On threes, Stevens Point dropped in 2-of-9 (22.2 percent) and the Blugolds sank 1-of-6 (16.7 percent).

For the game, Stevens Point outdid Eau Claire from the floor (52.5 percent-to-42.6 percent), from the line (73.9 percent-to-65.2 percent) and from behind the arc (38.9 percent-to-36.4 percent). The Pointers did well rebounding, grabbing 11 more boards than Eau Claire. They also only had eight turnovers while Eau Claire gave up the ball 13 times.

Dan Beyer (Sr.-Waukesha/Catholic Memorial) led Blugold scorers with 22 points though Ryan Shea (Fr.-Duluth, MN/East) had 18. Probst was next with 13 points. Beyer was one board short of a double-double, pulling down nine rebounds. Pete Rortvedt accomplished the double-double feat on Stevens Point's side with 10 of each. The scoring leader, however, was Hicklin at 19. Bryan Beamish had 16 points.

Stevens Point has now knocked Eau Claire from the WIAC tourney each of the past two years. Last year the Pointers beat the Blugolds 89-55 in the quarterfinals. The Blugolds had been bounced in the first round going back to 2003, the last time they made the semis.

The Pointers have now won the past 16 contests between these two teams, including three this year. The all-time record is now 76-82 and Eau Claire hasn't beaten the Pointers 2001.

Stevens Point will now face top-seeded UW-Whitewater for the tourney championship. The fourth-ranked Warhawks were nearly upset tonight, needing overtime to top the fifth-seeded UW-Superior team 77-73.

The Blugolds have three seniors on the squad, including Beyer, Luke Meier (Cross Plains/Middleton) and Zack Ryan (Lake Elmo, MN/Tartan). However, Beyer will come back as a fifth year senior next season as he received a medical redshirt earlier in his career at Eau Claire.