It didn't take long for the UW-Superior men's basketball team to take control of their non-conference matchup with Northland College Monday evening.  And once the Yellowjackets got rolling, there was little the Lumberjacks could do to stem the tide.

The Yellowjackets went on several long runs in each half and never looked back, rolling to an 82-46 victory over Northland at Mertz Mortorelli Gymnasium that ups their season record to 7-3 heading into Wednesday night's game with Twin Ports rivals St. Scholastica in Duluth.

With the loss, Northland dropped to 1-5 overall on the season.

UW-Superior got off a quick start in the first half, scoring the game's first eight points behind back-to-back scores from senior Jake Smith (Rhinelander, Wis.), a driving layup by junior Dan Culy (Rice Lake, Wis.) and a jumper by Marcus Helland (Baldwin, Wis.).

The Lumberjacks would cut the deficit to 11-7 following a basket by Zeb Woiak with 10:45 left in the opening 20 minutes.

But the Yellowjackets would assert themselves from there, going on a 12-0 spurt behind five points from senior Greg Roeder (Mercer, Wis.), four points from junior Dustin Ritchie (Superior, Wis.) and a three-pointer from Helland to take a 23-7 lead with 7:35 left in the half.

UW-Superior would continue to pull away, extending their lead to 38-13 at the break behind another jumper by Ritchie, a three-pointer by junior Ben Aalfs (Hutchinson, Minn.) and a layup from Smith in the final 1:52 of play.

From there, the Yellowjackets would 50 percent from the field in the second half, taking their largest lead of the night at 73-31 after freshman Eric Holten (Barron, Wis.) knocked down a three-pointer witih 7:49 remaining in regulation.

For the game, UW-Superior would connect on 30-of-63 shots while also connecting on 11-of-26 from three-point range.  Defensively, the Yellowjackets would hold Northland to just 38.8 percent shooting (19-of-49) and hold the Lumberjacks without a three-point field goal for the game.

Individually, the Yellowjackets were paced by Helland's 16 points while Aalfs added 14, Smith 12 and Roeder and Holten each finished with 10 points.  Northland was paced by Lloyd Kalfs with 15 points.