Having fallen behind early in their loss to Concordia (Moorhead) over the weekend, the UW-Superior men's basketball seemed intent on flipping that script when they hosted UW-Stout in their conference opener Thursday night.
Unfortunately for the Yellowjackets, it wasn't an early first half run, but rather a pair of later surges that proved to be the difference as the Blue Devils took an 11-point halftime lead and then made it stand up the rest of the way to pull out a 79-68 win at Mertz Mortorelli Gymnasium.
With the win, the Blue Devils improved to 6-1 overall and 1-0 in WIAC action while the Yellowjackets fell to 2-4 and 0-1.
UW-Superior found themselves behind early as a driving layup by Jimmy Whitehead, along with baskets from Aaron Jenny and Alex Oman gave UW-Stout a 7-3 advantage with 15:50 remaining in the first half.
The Yellowjackets rallied back, coming to within 14-12 on a layup by Bronson Byrne (Chanhassen, Minn./Chaska) with 11:56 left and remained within two at 16-14 when Jarrod Peterson (Plymouth, Minn./Wayzata) scored on a driving layup at the 11:04 mark of the opening stanza.
A quick 6-2 burst allowed UW-Stout to stretch the margin however, resulting in a 22-15 cushion following a Tim Butina layup with 9:07 left in the half.
The Yellowjackets trimmed the deficit to 22-17 after two free throws by Peterson on the next possession before a 10-2 run by the Blue Devils upped their lead to 32-19 at the 5:50 mark following Jenny's layup.
After trailing 40-29 at the break, UW-Superior made a quick charge early in the second half, getting a layup from Aaron Corry (Lake Nebagamon, Wis./Northwestern), a free throw from Byrne, and five points from Tilyn Hollis (Minneapolis, Minn.) in the opening 3:50 to cut the margin to 42-37 with 16:10 left in regulation.
The Blue Devils refused the wilt however, getting a three-pointer from Jenny and two free throws from Oman to stretch the lead to 47-37 at the 15:11 mark.
UW-Superior would cut the deficit to five on two other occasions in the second half, the first coming on Peterson's layup that made it 49-44 with 13:49 left before a Peterson three that made it a 57-52 game at the 9:44 mark.
But on each occasion, the Blue Devils had an answer, getting key baskets from both Whitehead and Oman to help maintain their lead.
From there, the Yellowjackets would get no closer than nine points in the final 2:58 as UW-Stout made four free throws along with a key three-pointer by Jenny to seal the victory.
The Yellowjackets were paced by Peterson with 17 points and nine rebounds. Byrne finished with 13 points and 11 rebounds while Brian Lindblom (Spooner, Wis./Spooner) finished with 12 points for UW-Superior.
Jenny led all scorers with 24 points for the Blue Devils while Whitehead had 23 points and Oman 14 for UW-Stout.
The Yellowjackets will host UW-Oshkosh at Mertz Mortorelli Gymnasium Saturday. Opening tipoff is scheduled for 5 p.m.