Yellowjackets 82, St. Scholastica 65
Box Score
The UW-Superior men's basketball team has become very familiar with St. Scholastica in recent years, having played the Saints twice a year since the beginning of the 2008-2009 season. With two more meetings with St. Scholastica scheduled for 2011-2012, the Yellowjackets hoped Saturday night's first meeting would result in their seventh consecutive win over their border rivals.
A late run in the second half would provide the Yellowjackets with just that, as UW-Superior outscored St. Scholastica 16-4 down the stretch to post an 82-65 win over the Saints at Mertz Mortorelli Gymnasium.
The Saints jumped out to a quick 4-0 lead in the opening minute of the game two quick scores from Jonah Dahlman and Brett Tester.
UW-Superior (8-4) would bounce right back however, going on an 18-2 burst culminating in a layup by Trent Davis (Apple Valley, Minn./St. Bernard's), giving the Yellowjackets an 18-6 lead with 13:15 left in the first half.
The Saints (1-7) rallied back to within 32-27 on two free throws by Dahlman with 2:22 left in the opening frame.
UW-Superior maintained their advantage in the final two minutes however, getting an alley-oop dunk by Ben Aalfs (Hutchinson, Minn./Hutchinson) from Davis with 54 seconds left to take a 38-31 lead into the intermission.
St. Scholastica refused to quit in the second half, steadily cutting into UW-Superior's lead to trail by five at 66-61 following a free throw from Tester with 5:46 left in regulation.
But the Yellowjackets pulled away from there, taking a 71-61 lead after a layup by Aalfs and a three-point play by Bronson Byrne (Chanhassen, Minn./Chaska) with 5:06 remaining in the second half.
The closest the Saints would come from there would be at 73-65 on a layup by Tester at the 3:39 mark as UW-Superior connected on six straight free throws in the final three minutes to seal the victory.
Offensively, the Yellowjackets were paced by Aalfs with 23 points while Byrne added 21 points and Adam Hjelter (Hutchinson, Minn./Hutchinson) 17 for UW-Superior. The Yellowjackets also grabbed 16 offensive rebounds and out-rebounded St. Scholastica 45-20 for the night.
The Saints were led by Tester with 23 points while Cole Mortel added 15 points and Dahlman 12.
UW-Superior will face St. Scholastica again on Dec. 31 at Rief Gymnasium in Duluth.