The UW-Superior men's basketball team seemed to have plenty of momentum heading into Saturday afternoon's home game with the UW-Platteville Pioneers.

After all, the Yellowjackets were coming off of one their best all-around performances of the year during an impressive 88-56 win over UW-Stout on Wednesday and were facing a team they had already defeated in an overtime thriller earlier in the season.

The Pioneers meanwhile were coming off of two tough losses if their own against UW-River Falls and UW-Whitewater within the last week.

None of that seemed to matter to UW-Platteville however as the Pioneers rallied from a six-point halftime deficit to force overtime before going on to outscore UW-Superior 16-5 in the extra session and pull out a 70-59 victory over the Yellowjackets at Mertz Mortorelli Gymnasium.

Neither the Yellowjackets nor the Pioneers were able to take command during through most of the opening half.

Jake Smith (Rhinelander, Wis.) would eventually catch fire as the half wore on however, netting 6-of-10 shots for the half, including a pair of long jumpers in the final five minutes of the opening half, to help the Yellowjackets take a 34-26 lead in the final minute before settling for a 34-28 advantage at the half.

The Yellowjackets (11-7 overall, 3-6 WIAC) would continue to hold the lead early in the second half as well behind an aggressive start to the final 20 minutes that saw Ben Aalfs (Hutchinson, Minn.) score eight of his 12 points after halftime.

But the Pioneers (11-7, 4-5) would steadily rally back, taking advantage of the presence of Eric Wall and Chad Cross to eventually rally to take a late lead at 54-50 in the final two minutes.

Smith would rally the Yellowjackets back, sinking 3-of-4 key free throws in the final minutes of regulation, evening matters at 54-54 and sending the game into overtime.

UW-Platteville would take control of the overtime behind Wall however.  The burly forward would score two big baskets in the first minute before a three-pointer from Brett Stangel eventually upped the Pioneers' lead to 61-57 midway through overtime.

From there, the Pioneers would get several key free throws from Nick Allen, Cross, Rob Stallion and Eric Gerber to pull out the victory.

The Yellowjackets were paced by Smith's 18 points and seven rebounds.   UW-Superior also struggled from the field in the second half and overtime, connecting on just 29 percent of their shots in the second half and 14 percent in overtime

Wall led all scorers with 24 points and 13 rebounds while Cross added 18.  Allen meanwhile chipped in with 11 points for the Pioneers as well.

UW-Superior will travel to take on #11 UW-River Falls on Wednesday starting at 7 p.m.