Still searching for their first win of the 2013-2014 campaign, the UW-Superior men's basketball team entered Monday night's Border Battle with St. Scholastica hoping to gain some momentum for this weekend's Merrill Thompson Tipoff Classic at Mertz Mortorelli Gymnasium.

And the Yellowjackets did just that, sprinting out to an early 11-point lead and never looking back in an 86-72 win over the Saints at the Reif Center.

Jarrod Peterson (Plymouth, Minn./Wayzata) led the way for the Yellowjackets (1-2), going 17-for-17 from the free throw line on the way to scoring a game-high 32 points as UW-Superior held St. Scholastica to just 35.4 percent shooting (29-of-82) while out-rebounding the Saints by a 46-35 margin.

The Yellowjackets got going quickly against the Saints, getting an early score from Tilyn Hollis (Minneapolis, Minn.), a three-pointer from Peterson and an inside basket from Bronson Byrne (Chanhassen, Minn./Chaska) for a 7-1 lead with 16:37 left in the opening half.

UW-Superior continued to surge from there, getting a three-pointer from Johnathon Scott at the 13:16 mark to up their advantage to 15-4.

St. Scholastica (0-4) scored 10 of the next 12 points behind four points each from Trevor Morlock and Nathan Carlson to come to within 17-14 with 8:53 left in the opening frame.

But the Yellowjackets steadily pulled away for the remainder of the first half, upping their edge to 29-20 following two free throws by Peterson 3:22 remaining before heading to halftime holding a 37-27 advantage.

UW-Superior's double-digit margin continued early into the second half as Peterson connected on a layup and a three-pointer to stretch the edge to 42-27 with 18:39 remaining in regulation.

The Saints finally cut the deficit under 10 with 8:53 left on a jumper by Carlson that made the score 58-50.

From there, the Yellowjackets scored the next 14 points, 10 of which came from Peterson, to take their largest lead of the night at 72-50 with 5:10 showing on the clock.

St. Scholastica never got closer than 10 points the rest of the way as UW-Superior knocked down 35-of-39 from the free throw line, including going 10-for-10 in the final 2:11 to clinch the victory.

Along with Peterson's 32 points, Bryne scored 17 points while also grabbing a game-high 14 rebounds.  Hollis meanwhile chipped in with 15 points for UW-Superior.

St. Scholastica was paced by Jake Naslund with 17 points. Steve Golobich had 11 points while Morlock and Carlson each finished with 10 points for the Saints.

The Yellowjackets will host Finlandia in game two of the Merrill Thompson Tipoff Classic on Saturday.  Opening tipoff is scheduled for 7:30 p.m.