NORTHFIELD, Minn. – The St. Olaf College men's basketball team held off UW-Stevens Point late to pick up its first win of the season with a 64-61 victory on Wednesday night at Skoglund Center.
St. Olaf (1-2) held a 56-42 lead with 6:04 remaining before UW-Stevens Point (1-1) went on a 12-2 run over the span of just under five minutes to get within two at 58-56 with 1:11 remaining. On the ensuing possession, senior
Connor Martin hit a step-back three-pointer late in the shot clock to push the Oles' lead back to five with 39 seconds to go. St. Olaf went 3-for-6 at the free-throw line late to allow the Pointers a chance to tie it on the final possession, but UW-Stevens Point turned it over on the inbounds play.
Sophomore
Kobe Kirk scored a team-high 20 points on 7-for-14 shooting from the field and 5-for-6 shooting at the free-throw line while also grabbing eight rebounds for St. Olaf. Martin was the only other Ole in double figures with 12 points, two rebounds, three assists, and three steals, while fifth-year senior
Brendan Kauls had seven points and a team-high nine rebounds.
UW-Stevens Point scored the game's first four points before St. Olaf went on a 13-2 run to grab a 13-6 lead seven-and-a-half minutes in. Already leading 21-17, the Oles scored nine-straight points to take their largest lead of the half at 30-17 with 2:35 to go. UW-Stevens Point got a pair of baskets in the final 33 seconds of the half to go into the locker room down 32-23 despite shooting just 25.0 percent (8-for-32) from the field.
Early in the second half, Kirk scored five points in a 7-0 run for St. Olaf that extended the Oles' lead to 43-28 with 15:12 remaining for their largest lead of the night. UW-Stevens Point responded by scoring the next seven points to get back within 11, but St. Olaf continued to lead by at least nine until the late run by the Pointers.
Josiah Butler, who led UW-Stevens Point with 20 points on the night, accounted for all 10 points in a 10-0 run for the visitors to cut the Oles' lead to 56-52 with 3:52 left. Malik Abdul-Wahid made back-to-back shots for the Pointers to make it a two-point game at 58-56 with 1:11 on the clock before Martin's three-pointer with 39 seconds to go.
With St. Olaf still up by five, Butler drilled a three-pointer with nine seconds remaining to get it back to a two-point difference. Kirk split a pair of free throws – the third-straight 1-for-2 effort for the Oles – with four seconds to go to leave the door open for the Pointers but, with no timeouts remaining, UW-Stevens Point tried to inbound the ball to mid-court, but Martin intercepted the pass and ran out the clock.
St. Olaf begins Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (MIAC) play with a home game against Gustavus Adolphus College on Tuesday, Nov. 21 at 7 p.m.
