Blue Devils still alive in playoff race
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THIS WEEK'S GAME: (February 18, 2008) - UW-Stout (5-18, 2-12) will look to get a couple of much-needed wins this week against two fairly vulnerable teams. They will travel to UW-River Falls (9-14, 3-11) this Wednesday. This is a must-win for the Blue Devils since they will be eliminated from playoff contention with a loss. Stout will then travel to UW-Eau Claire on Saturday, Feb. 23.
WEBCASTS: Both the River Falls and the Eau Claire games will be broadcast on WMEQ 880 AM radio, with Jake Bostrom on the play-by-play and Steve Schrantz on the color commentary.
THE BLUE DEVILS: UW-Stout opened the season by winning three of their first four games, but have since reeled off 17 losses in their last 19 games. Transfer Miles Webb (Sr, Brooklyn Park, Minn) is leading the team - and is second in the WIAC - in scoring with 18.5 points and is grabbing 5.3 rebounds per contest. Webb has led the team in scoring 13 times and has scored in double figures in 18 of the Blue Devils' 23 games, recording a career high of 37 points against UW-Stevens Point in January. Webb has 10 times scored more than 20 points. Eric Heisler (Sr, Savage, Minn) is tied with Webb for the team lead in rebounding with 5.3 boards, ranking him eighth in the WIAC. Heisler is averaging 7.1 points. Wing guard Jerrel Enerson-Matthews (So, Anoka, Minn) is averaging 12.7 points per contest and 3.9 rebounds. E-Matt is 14th in scoring in the WIAC. Point guard Alex Mason (Jr, St. Paul, Minn) is averaging 9.6 points per contest. Mason leads the team in assists with 72. As a team, Stout is shooting .440 (608-1382) from the floor and .362 (180-497) from 3-point range. Stout is ranked second in 3-point field goals made in the WIAC with 7.67 made per game. Stout was picked to finish seventh in a WIAC preseason poll.
THE BLUE DEVILS' LAST TIME OUT: UW-Stout fell behind early, and never mounted much of a comeback, falling to UW-La Crosse, 76-65, Saturday, Feb. 16 at Mitchell Hall. The Blue Devils scored first, and held an early lead for about a minute and a half, but the Eagles pulled out a 15-0 run to grab a lead they would not relinquish the rest of the game. Stout got within five points of La Crosse after a three-pointer by Jerrel Enerson-Matthews (So, Anoka, Minn) with 7:13 remaining in the game, but La Crosse went on a 14-5 run to take a 14-point lead with under two minutes to play, sealing the game for good. Stout's leading scorer and rebounder was Miles Webb, who scored 15 points on 5-13 shooting from the floor and pulled down a game-high nine rebounds. Alex Mason added 12 points on 4-7 shooting, nailing his only attempt from downtown. La Crosse had five men in double-digits, including four of their starters. Tony Mane led all scorers with 26 points as he went 5-9 from beyond the three-point arc. Stout won the rebounding battle by five, and shot a better percentage from the field than the Eagles, but turned the ball over 10 times compared to 8 and shot just 66 percent from the free throw line, while La Crosse shot 82.6 percent.
SCOUTING THE OPPONENT: UW-River Falls: The Falcons (9-14, 3-11) sit in eighth place in the WIAC, just one game ahead of the Blue Devils. Before going 2-2 in their last four, River Falls was on an eight-game losing streak in conference play. The Falcons have a better winning percentage on the road than at home in both conference and non-conference play. They rank second to last in scoring offense, partly due to their conference-worst free throw percentage (.637) and their three-point percentage of .344, which puts them eighth out of nine. River Falls features a pretty balanced scoring attack with five players scoring between eight and 10.2 points per game. Willie Wright leads the team with 10.2 points per contest, followed closely by Nate Robertson’s 10.0. Robertson is the team’s top rebounder with 5.2, followed by Wright, who pulls down 4.6 boards per game.
SCOUTING THE OPPONENT: UW-Eau Claire: The Blugolds are in sixth place in the WIAC and, with a home playoff game out of reach, are battling for position in the standings to play a lower seeded team. Eau Claire has lost six of their last seven games, with their only win coming against River Falls. The Blugolds are ranked second in overall field goal percentage (.512), but rank last in three-point percentage (.335). Eau Claire also ranks last in turnover margin, averaging 15.4 turnovers per game. Conference scoring leader Dan Beyer heads up Eau Claire’s offense by scoring 18.7 points and collecting 7.3 rebounds per game. Freshman Ryan Shea 13.4 points to the mix and leads the team with three assists per game.
LAST TIME OUT: UW-River Falls: The Falcon men's basketball team played well but No. 24-ranked UW-Oshkosh was too much and the Titans beat UWRF, 80-63, at the Karges Center on Saturday, Feb. 16. The first half was a hard fought battle. The teams traded baskets for the first five minutes and Oshkosh held a two-point, 11-9, lead after a Matt Miller jumper with 15:18 left. The Falcons quickly turned that one-point deficit into a six-point lead with a 7-0 run over the next 1:59. Sophomore forward Nate Robertson started the run with a lay up, senior forward Scott Kelly put in a lay up on the next possession and senior guard Willie Wright capped the run off with a three-pointer to give RF a five point, 16-11, lead with 13:19 left in the half. RF held the lead until UWO's Miller hit a three pointer with 8:46 left to give UWO the lead, 22-20. RF could never get back to even in the first half and UWO took a six-point lead, 39-33, into the locker room at the half. Wright led the Falcons in the first half with six points and five rebounds. Kelly also had six rebounds and added two assists. The Falcons came out in the second half and hung tough, scoring with UWO. UWO pushed its lead to nine twice in the first five minutes and the Falcons responded both times. First it was freshman guard Brady Hannigan hitting a jumper to cut the deficit to seven, then it was Wright making a lay up to keep UWO within reach. UWO pushed its lead to 11 after a Miller lay up half way through the second period. Deonte Compton came right back on the next possession and nailed a three-pointer to cut the lead down to eight, 59-51, with 8:35 left. That was the last gasp from the Falcons as UWO soon pushed its lead to 15 and finally won by 17, 80-63. UWO's Dane Seckar-Anderson led all scorers with 30 points, going 13-16 from the field. Wright led the Falcons with 14 points and added five boards. Kelly had another solid game, scoring 11 points. Freshman forward Wade Guerin also had a good game, scoring six points, and leading the Falcons with seven rebounds. / Story by UW-River Falls Sports Information
LAST TIME OUT: UW-Eau Claire: The UW-Eau Claire men’s basketball team suffered an 89-68 loss Wednesday, Feb. 13 to No. 9 UW-Stevens Point. The Blugolds had the early 4-0 lead after Ryan Shea and Geoff Probst put in back-to-back shots. A pair of Pointer layups tied it before they went ahead by one on a three-point play. Probst hit a trey to put the Blugolds on top again. Stevens Point responded with a pair of threes and took away Eau Claire’s last lead of the game. However, Dan Mullen tied it up with a three at 12:39 and Dan Beyer tied it up with a jumper at 10:56. The Pointers held onto the lead the rest of the way. At 10:06, Eau Claire got within a point. Stevens Point then put on a 10-0 run to go up by double-digits at 29-18. The lowest the margin would get the rest of the half was seven points. The Pointers went into the locker room with a 45-34 lead. Both teams shot well in the half, with Eau Claire outperforming on the floor 59.1 percent-to-55.2 percent. Stevens Point went 5-of-13 (38.5 percent) from behind the arc and 8-of-10 (80.0 percent) from the line. The Blugolds went 2-of-4 (50.0 percent) and 6-of-8 (75.0 percent). Eau Claire came back onto the court with a 9-2 surge that made it 47-43. By 13:43, the Pointers had shot it to 55-45. The double-digit lead remained for most of the game. At 8:29, a Beyer free throw got it within nine, but Stevens Point performed well down the stretch and won 89-68. Stevens Point shot an incredible 18-for-25 (72.0 percent) in the half while Eau Claire shot 13-for-23 (56.5 percent). The Pointers still hit from downtown, making 5-of-8 (62.5 percent) threes. Over the course of the game, Stevens Point outdid Eau Claire on the floor 63.0 percent-to-57.8 percent. They also made 10-of-21 (47.6 percent) from long range compared to Eau Claire’s 3-of-10 (30.0 percent). The Pointers shot better on free throws 73.3 percent-to-65.0 percent. The Blugolds outrebounded the visitors 26-to-21, but gave the ball up 17 times compared to eight. Overshadowed by the loss is Beyer’s 23 points. Probst had 14 behind him and both led in boards with eight. Five Pointers were in double-figures with Pete Rortvedt’s 20 leading. / Story by UW-Eau Claire Sports Information
THE SERIES: The Falcons hold a 126-93 lead in the series with the Blue Devils. In the past 10 meetings, each team has won five games, and Stout has won three of the last five. In their meeting earlier this season, UW-River Falls made a buzzer-beater to take a two point lead into halftime, and UW-Stout never tied nor led the rest of the game, falling to the Falcons, 79-72. Stout's Jerrel Enerson-Matthews came up one rebound shy of a double-double, scoring 16 points and pulling down nine rebounds. He also dished out a game-high six assists. Miles Webb led the Blue Devils with 22 points, 20 of which came in the second half, while he added seven rebounds on the night. River Falls had two men collect double-doubles. Willie Wright scored 13 points and grabbed 13 rebounds, while Nate Robertson scored 12 and finished with 10 boards. Scott Kelly led all Falcons with 16 points.
THE SERIES: The Blugolds hold a 118-83 lead in the series against the Blue Devils. Prior to their loss this season, Stout had won seven straight contests against the Blugolds, and have won eight of the past 10. These teams met in the first conference game of the season. UW-Stout's seven game winning streak over UW-Eau Claire came to an end that Saturday, when the Blugolds defeated the Blue Devils, 72-63, at Johnson Fieldhouse. After Miles Webb's layup with 12 minutes to play gave Stout a 41-39 lead - their first of the second half - four different Blugolds hit four straight three-pointers to help get back a 10-point lead. That margin was never less than five the rest of the way, and was increased to 12 at one point. Eau Claire's leading scorer was Dan Beyer, who dropped in 20 points to go with seven rebounds. Ryan Shea put up 17 points for the Blugolds, and Dan Mullen scored 11, shooting 3-6 from beyond the arc. Stout's Alex Mason scored a personal season-high 20 points on 7-11 shooting, making both his attempts from downtown. Jerrel Enerson-Matthews and Webb both added 12 points for Stout.
THE COACHES: UW-Stout: Eddie Andrist (106-96 at Stout, 356-287 overall) is in his eighth year as the coach of the Blue Devils, and his 19th overall in the collegiate ranks. Andrist led the Blue Devils to their first NCAA Division III appearance two seasons ago when Stout advanced to the second round. Andrist coached at Mount Senario for 11 seasons and won three national championships. Andrist spent last summer coaching the Qatar national team, attempting to qualify the team to the 2008 Olympics. UW-River Falls: Head Coach Jeff Berkhof served last season as River Falls’ interim coach, helping the Falcons to 10-16 overall record, going 5-11 in the WIAC. Berkhof has been in the Falcons’ basketball system for many years. He was most recently coach Rick Bowen’s top assistant for nine seasons, and has been a member of the coaching staff since the 1994-95 season. Berkhof also played for two seasons as a Falcon. During his senior season, he was selected to the all-WSUC team. Berkhof received his masters degree in sports management at the University of Minnesota in 2005. In addition to his coaching duties, he is currently an instructor in the health and human performance department at River Falls. UW-Eau Claire: Terry Gibbons is in his 13th season as the men’s basketball coach at Eau Claire. Gibbons has been in Eau Claire's program for the past 18 years. As the head coach at UW-Eau Claire, Gibbons has coached three All-Americans, seven All-Region, 12 first team All-WIAC selections and "2000 Final Four Most Valuable Player" Sherm Carstensen. Gibbons received his bachelor’s degree from UW-Oshkosh in 1983 and his master’s from Western in 1985.
TURNING THE CALENDAR: The calendar year 2007 was not kind to the Blue Devils, who won only six games throughout the entire year. Stout won three games in January during the 2006-07 season, and, with the win at Superior, won their first game since winning three games in November to open the 2007-08 season.
WEBCASTS: All Blue Devil home games will be available on Live Stats and most home games will be video webcast live on Blue Devil Video, with Adam "Big Country" Lehnertz on the play-by-play and Scooter Aspen on the color commentary. WMEQ 880 AM radio, with Jake Bostrom and Steve Schrantz on the call, will broadcast all away conference games, all tournament games and all Saturday doubleheader games. iFan.tv will handle the webcasts for all Saturday doubleheaders, with Adam Lehnertz and Dave Fisher on the call. iFan asks for a very nominal donation to help defer their costs.
UP NEXT: Stout will wait to see if they qualify for the WIAC tournament to continue play this season.