Coming off a nice win over UW-Eau Claire their last time out, the UW-Superior men's basketball team hoped for another big performance when hit the road to face the UW-Whitewater Warhawks Saturday afternoon.
And with just over six minutes left in the first half, the Yellowjackets found themselves trailing 24-20 following a score from Brian Lindblom (Spooner, Wis./Spooner).
But things quickly deteriorated from there and the Warhawks, who entered the contest ranked No. 8 in the latest D3hoops.com top-25 poll, were only too happy to pull away.
UW-Whitewater outscored the Yellowjackets 58-26 after halftime and went on to post an impressive 97-52 win at Kachel Gym, dropping UW-Superior to 5-11 overall and 2-5 in WIAC play.
The Warhawks meanwhile upped their overall mark to 14-2 while also improving to 5-2 in conference action.
UW-Superior looked good early, getting a three-point shot from Caleb Burch (Eau Claire, Wis./Altoona) and four free throws from Jarrod Peterson (Plymouth, Minn./Wayzata) to take a 9-5 lead with 16:03 left in the first half.
A jumper by Alex Merg and a three-pointer from Cody Odegaard gave UW-Whitewater a 10-9 edge with 15:02 remaining before another three, this one from Patrick Souter, upped the Warhawks' margin to 17-11 with 10:43 showing on the clock.
The Yellowjackets continued to stay close, cutting the lead to 24-20 after Lindblom's basket with 6:27 remaining in the opening stanza.
But the Warhawks extended their advantage for the rest of the half, getting a free-throw from Reggie Hearn for a 30-20 bulge before a layup by Quardell Young at the buzzer gave UW-Whitewater a 39-26 lead at the break.
Aaron Corry (Lake Nebagamon, Wis./Northwestern) got UW-Superior off to a good start in the second half, trimming the Warhawks' lead to 39-28 with 19:47 left in regulation.
A 21-7 Warhawks run gave UW-Whitewater a 60-35 lead however after a free throw by Odegaard with 14:04 remaining in the game.
The Yellowjackets never got closer than 23 points the rest of the way as UW-Whitewater shot 50 percent from the field in the second half while holding UW-Superior to just 26.7 percent shooting (8-of-30).
Peterson scored 19 points for UW-Superior while Burch had 11 for the Yellowjackets.
UW-Whitewater was paced by K.J. Evans with 19 points. Odegaard finished with 12 points while Hearn added 11 points and 12 rebounds.
The Yellowjackets hit the road to take on UW-River Falls on Wednesday. Opening tipoff from the Karges Center is scheduled for 7 p.m. The game can be heard on 91.3 FM KUWS with Matt Johnson on the call.