A day after the UW-Superior women's basketball team tipped off their season, the Yellowjacket men opened play against their bridge-rivals from the College of St. Scholastica. It's a brand-new season for the Yellowjackets and they looked to get off to a 1-0 start on the season. It wasn't easy, but the Yellowjackets got the job done against the Saints.
 
Superior started fast. They scored the first seven points of the game, five coming from Ty Ketz (Clayton, Wis./Clayton), followed by a fast-break layup by Zach Schradle (Clayton, Wis./Clayton). Superior would stretch the lead to eight, 10-2 with three free-throws from Ketz, giving him seven of the first 10 points for Superior. Superior was able to hold St. Scholastica at arms-length for most of the first half, as they lead by double-digits for the majority of the half. Superior stretched their lead to 17 points three different times in the half, but a late first half run by St. Scholastica saw Superior take a 41-29 lead into halftime.
 
The two teams traded baskets in the opening minutes of the second half. St. Scholastica whittled Superior's lead to eight points before Superior went on a 7-0 run to build the lead back up to 15 points. Superior's lead bounced between 12 and 19 points for the majority of the second half before Scholastica put together one last burst. With three minutes left and the Saints trailing by 10 points, St. Scholastica went on a 12-6 run to close the gap to four points at 83-79. With a few seconds remaining, they stole the inbounds pass, but there wasn't enough time left for them to get off a three-pointer and get fouled. Superior hung on for the victory, 83-79.
 
All five Superior starters scored in double-figures. Ketz led the way, in his first game as a Yellowjacket, with 26 points on 8-of-16 shooting. Johnquez Brooks (North Las Vegas, Nev./Valley) had 17 points and seven assists. Zach Schradle (Clayton, Wis./Clayton) had 13, Brian Lindblom (Spooner, Wis./Spooner) had 12, and Caleb Burch (Eau Claire, Wis./Altoona) had 11 points on three three-pointers.
 
Jake Naslund scored 19 points for the Saints.
 
After holding the Saints to 29 points in the first half, Superior gave up 50 points in the second half. However, after only attempting seven free-throws in the first half, Superior went 17-of-20 from the line in the second half.
 
With the victory, Superior moves to 1-0 on the young season. They will play at the University of Minnesota-Duluth on Tuesday. Game time from Romano Gym is set for 7 p.m. UW-Superior students interested in attending the game can get a free ticket by stopping by the UW-Superior Athletics Office.