RIVER FALLS, Wis. (uwrfsports.com) - UW-River Falls wasn't able to overcome the hot shooting of UW-Stevens Point in their WIAC matchup on Saturday night at Page Arena. The Pointers shot over 70 percent from the field and three-point line in the first half, building a 16-point lead at halftime that the Falcons struggled to cut into during the second half of the 88-68 loss. Jack Stensgard scored a team-high 17 points for the Falcons in his second game as a starter, knocking down three three-pointers and scoring 12 points in the second half. 

The Falcons found themselves in early trouble when they entered the first media timeout trailing 9-2 after starting 1-7 from the field. A three-pointer from Stensgard helped the Falcons settle into the game, and they cut the Pointers' lead to only four points at 15-11 after Jalen Greenlee knocked down a jump shot. Nate Dodge instantly responded with a three-pointer, which quickly became a theme of the first half. Dodge entered the game third in the WIAC in scoring at over 18 points per game, and he had 15 points by halftime after going 5-6 from beyond the arc in the opening 20 minutes. Dodge finished with a game-high 29 points on 9-12 shooting. 

Three straight makes from Ethan Bublitz pushed the lead back to double digits, but a dunk from Ross Ingersoll brought some energy back to UWRF and kept the deficit at 12 points with five minutes remaining in the half. However, Canon O'Heron made a layup a minute later to give them their biggest lead of the first half at 17 points. O'Heron finished the game with 21 points. 

UWRF lived at the free throw line in the second half, shooting 15-17 from the charity stripe. However, consistent shooting from the Pointers proved to be a problem again after the lead was trimmed to 16 points. An 8-0 run from the Pointers gave them a 24-point lead with about 14 minutes remaining, and the lead hovered around 20 points for the rest of the game. UW-Stevens Point finished shooting almost 67 percent from the field, higher than their 63 percent at the free throw line. They also had 86 of their 88 points come from their starting lineup.

The Falcons shot 42 percent for the game and were aided by 10 points and eight rebounds from Austin Heidecker. Ingersoll also finished with 10 points and joined Heidecker and Stensgard as the only Falcons in double figures. UWRF is now 7-6 this season and 0-2 in the WIAC. They will next take on UW-Platteville on the road at 7 p.m. on Wednesday.