After Wednesday's loss, the Yellowjacket men's basketball team continued its "farewell" tour of the WIAC, as it traveled to UW-Stout. This was a game UW-Superior needed to win if it wanted to have a chance to make the playoffs. It was a close game throughout, but Superior performed excellently from the free throw line to steal the game on the road, 72-65.
 
It was imperative that Superior get off to a good start in Saturday's matchup after falling behind by 29 points to UW-Platteville by on Wednesday. Stout, which is down to 11 healthy players has struggled its way to a 0-6 record in the WIAC, so there was no excuse for Superior to fall behind. Brian Lindblom (Spooner, Wis./Spooner) had been struggling the past few games, getting into foul trouble early in both halves. But today, Lindblom was a different player. He scored the first basket of the game and two minutes later, he drilled a three-pointer to give Superior a 7-4 lead. Lindblom would go on to score nine points in the first half on 3-of-5 shooting from the field. Superior's Zach Schradle (Clayton, Wis./Clayton) scored 11 points in the first half. Despite 12 turnovers in the first half, Superior, propelled by Schradle and Lindblom, had a 34-32 lead at halftime.
 
The second half was played just as tightly as the first half. The turning point in the game came late in the second half. With 3:28 left and Superior down one, Schradle completed a huge three-point play to give the Yellowjackets a 62-60 lead. From there, Superior was able to salt away the game thanks to excellent free throw shooting. Stout tried to make a run late, but it ran out of time.
 
Schradle had a great performance. He finished with 23 points and a career-high 15 rebounds. He went 13-of-14 from the line. Lindblom finished with 13 points, Caleb Burch (Eau Claire, Wis./Altoona) had 11 points and Ty Ketz (Clayton, Wis./Clayton) finished with 10. Superior shot an efficient 20-of-37 from the field and 28-of-34 from the line.
 
UW-Stout's Jarvis Ragland came into the game leading the WIAC in scoring at 20.5 points per game, but the Yellowjackets held him to just 10 points. Jalen Patterson led Stout with 17 points.
 
With the victory, Superior moves to 9-9 overall (2-6 WIAC) on the season. It's also Superior's second straight win at Stout. Superior will be off Wednesday and will return to action next Saturday when they host Whitewater. Next weekend is also Alumni Weekend at The Mertz.