After one half of their WIAC conference contest with the UW-Platteville Pioneers Saturday afternoon, the UW-Superior men's basketball team appeared to be in prime position to rebound from their disheartening loss to UW-River Falls Wednesday night.
Unfortunately for the Yellowjackets, the second half proved to be a different story. And rebounds, or lack thereof in UW-Superior's case, proved to the main reason why.
The Pioneers rallied from a nine-point deficit, out-rebounding the Yellowjackets 40-28 while grabbing 17 offensive rebounds to UW-Superior's five on the way to posting a 76-67 win at Mertz Mortorelli Gymnasium.
After shooting 57.7 percent (15-of-26) in the first half against the Pioneers, the Yellowjackets fell to just 33.3 percent in the second half (8-of-24) and saw their record drop to 7-11 overall and 3-6 in WIAC conference play with the loss.
The Pioneers meanwhile improved to 12-6 overall and 5-4 in league action.
Neither team was able to gain much of an advantage in the lead in the early going as UW-Superior took a 7-6 edge with 16:00 left in the first half following baskets by Bronson Byrne (Chanhassen, Minn./Chaska) and Brendan Bauer (Eleva, Wis./Gilmanton) to go along with a three-pointer by Trent Davis (Apple Valley, Minn./St. Bernard's).
UW-Platteville retook the lead just seven minutes later on a three-pointer from Marcus Jackson that made it a 17-14 lead for the Pioneers with 9:21 remaining in the opening half.
A 7-2 run over the next 4:30 gave the Yellowjackets a 24-19 bulge as Bauer scored two layups, Byrne connected from the inside and Austin Cahill hit a three-pointer from the left wing, giving UW-Superior a five-point lead with 4:42 left on the clock.
Rob Stallion's long jumper brought the Pioneers to within 29-27 in the last two minutes before a 9-2 Yellowjacket push, paced by two jumpers from Davis, three free throws from Jarrod Peterson (Plymouth, Minn./Wayzata) and a jumper from Aaron Corry (Lake Nebagamon, Wis.) gave UW-Superior a 38-29 lead heading into halftime.
UW-Superior continued to hold the lead through the first 12 minutes of the second half, taking a 56-53 lead on a free throw by Johnquez Brooks (Las Vegas, Nev.) with 8:13 remaining in regulation.
But the Pioneers finally evened up matters on a three-pointer by Chas Cross on the next possession on the way to scoring the next 11 points, culminating in two free throws by Cross that gave UW-Platteville a 64-56 lead with 5:00 showing on the clock.
Two free throws by Peterson brought the Yellowjackets to within 64-58 at the 3:23 mark of the second half.
UW-Superior could get no closer than six points the rest of the way however as the Pioneers knocked down eight free throws in the last 1:20 to pull away.
Offensively, the Yellowjackets were led by Peterson with 15 points. Bauer added 14 points while Davis had 10 points for UW-Superior.
Cross scored a game-high 22 points and grabbed 12 rebounds for the Pioneers. Jim Stocki and Brad Reinke added 11 points apiece for the Pioneers as well.
The Yellowjackets will host UW-Eau Claire at Mertz Mortorelli Gymnasium Wednesday night. Opening tipoff is scheduled for 7 p.m. The Game can be heard locally on 91.3 FM KUWS with Matt Johnson on the call.