Yellowjackets 72, St. Scholastica 54
Box Score
Coming off a heart-breaking loss against the Concordia-Moorhead Cobbers the previous night, the UW-Superior men's basketball team looked to rebound against border rivals St. Scholastica in the final game of the Merrill Thompson Tipoff Classic Sunday evening.
And the Yellowjackets did just that, getting a game-high 19 points and 11 rebounds from Jarrod Peterson (Plymouth, Minn./Wayzata) to pull away in the second half for a 72-54 victory over the Saints at Mertz Mortorelli Gymnasium.
With the victory, UW-Superior upped their overall record to 2-2 on the season while the Saints fell to 0-4.
Peterson wasted no time in getting started for the Yellowjackets, knocking down a long three-pointer on the game's first possession to give UW-Superior a quick 3-0 just 20 seconds into the contest.
The Saints scored the next eight points, getting four points from Jonah Dahlman, a jumper from Cole Mortel and two free throws from Brett Tester to take an 8-3 lead with 14:54 remaining in the first half.
UW-Superior bounced back, scoring the game's next 11 points behind back-to-back three-point shots by Austin Cahill (Phoenix, Ariz.) and Peterson along with a jumper by Aaron Corry (Lake Nebagamon, Wis.) and another three by Peterson for a 14-8 Yellowjackets edge with 12:26 left in the opening stanza.
The Yellowjackets upped their lead to 25-12 with 7:09 remaining on an inside score by Cole Schreiner (Eleva, Wis./Eleva-Strum) and continued to lead by double-figures for much of the half before a late St. Scholastica run allowed the Saints to come to within 34-29 at the intermission.
St. Scholastica continued to keep matters close through the opening minutes of the second half, getting an early three-pointer from Dahlman at the 17:32 mark to trim the Yellowjackets' edge to 40-34.
But the Yellowjackets began pulling away as the second half wore on, outscoring the Saints 18-8 during an 11:08 span of the final period, culminating in a 58-42 UW-Superior advantage following a Walter Charlton (Nassau, Bahamas/Teleos Christian) free throw with 6:24 left in regulation.
UW-Superior went on to take their largest lead of the evening when Peterson converted a three-point play with 2:47 remaining to give the Yellowjackets a 68-46 edge.
From there, the Saints would get no closer than 18 points as the Yellowjackets held St. Scholastica to just 36.5 percent shooting while holding a commanding 46-27 rebounding advantage.
Along with Peterson's 19 points, the Yellowjackets got 15 points from Corry.
Dahlman led the Saints with 15 points while Tester finished with 10 points for St. Scholastica.
The Yellowjackets hit the road for the first time this season Wednesday when they head to Roseville, Minn. to take on Northwestern College. Opening tipoff is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. The game will be broadcast locally on 91.3 FM KUWS. Matt Johnson and Monte Stewart will be on the call.