It was a barn burner on Wednesday night at Mertz Mortorelli Gym. Well, for 33 minutes the men's basketball game between the Yellowjackets and UW-River Falls was a barn burner. Like a pair of boxers in a title fight, the Yellowjackets and the Falcons traded blows throughout the game, with neither being able to pull away to put the game out of reach.

All of that changed with just over seven minutes to play in the second half.

With the Falcons up by three points and heading to the free throw line looking to complete a three-point play, tensions in the game were beginning to reach a fever pitch. It was at that moment that the officials had had enough, and they assessed a technical foul on the Yellowjackets. River Falls sunk all three free throws, and with them the spirit of the Yellowjackets.

It was never the same game following the free throws and the Falcons pulled away to earn a 90-77 win over the Yellowjackets.

With the loss the Yellowjackets were eliminated from WIAC post-season contention.

River Falls came out firing early, hitting their first four shots, three of them from outside the arc, to open up an 11-4 lead. The Yellowjackets followed with a 7-0, tying the game at 11-11 on a layup from Zach Schradle (Clayton, Wis./Clayton) at the 4:16 mark. A minute later the Yellowjackets took their first lead of the night on a Bronson Byrne (Chanhassen, Minn./Chaska) layup.

With just over five minutes left in the half the Falcons grow an eight-point edge. Grant Erickson stole the ball from Johnathan Scott (Paradise Valley, Ariz./Thunderbird Adventist Academy), and drove the net to draw the foul, making one of his free throws to make it a 31-23 game. The Yellowjackets fought their way back, fueled by a layup from Jarrod Peterson (Plymouth, Minn./Wayzata) and a three pointer by Caleb Burch (Eau Claire, Wis./Altoona) and suddenly the deficit was shaved to three. With 4:01 left on the clock Peterson hit a three to tie the game at 31-31.

River Falls would again pull away late in the half, and were up six, 40-34 at the break. The Yellowjackets had a chance at the buzzer, but a long, outside shot by Peterson rimmed out.

The Yellowjackets went on an early run to start the second half, scoring the first nine points to take the lead. Peterson hit a three to cut the deficit to three, then added a free throw to pull to within two. Schradle followed with a layup to tie the game and then Peterson drained another three to put the Yellowjackets up 43-40.

Byrne made a pair of free throws and Peterson hit another three to give the Yellowjackets their largets lead of the night, 52-45, with just under five minutes gone in the half. River Falls came back, however, and a three by Devin Buckley with 12:29 to play gave them the lead.

The Yellowjackets kept things close, and with 7:21 left pulled to within one, 63-62, on a Brian Lindblom (Spooner, Wis./Spooner) layup. Second later Erickson made a layup for the Falcons to build the lead to three, and drew the foul in the process. While waiting to shoot the free throw the Yellowjackets were called for the aforementioned technical foul, and after the free throws were made found themselves down six at 68-62. River Falls followed that with a 14-4 run to blow the game open and pushed the lead to 16 with just under two minutes to play and cruise to the conference victory.

Peterson led the Yellowjackets with 20 points on 6-of-15 shooting, including 4-of-6 from three. Byrne also had a big night, scoring 17 points and pulling down 13 rebounds. Schradle and Lindblom dropped in 15 and 13 points, respectively for the Yellowjackets, who shot 45.2% from the field for the game.

David Berthene led the Falcons with 20 points while Erickson, Buckley and Ollie White also scored in double figures. The Falcons shot 44.6% for the game and went 10-of-24 from outside the arc.

The Yellowjackets (7-17, 4-11 WIAC) will close out the 2013-14 season on Saturday, February 22 when they travel to UW-Oshkosh. Game time is scheduled for 5:00 p.m. at the Kolf Sports Center.