Minnesota-Duluth 75, Yellowjackets 54
Box Score

The UW-Superior men's basketball team has built quite a nice rivalry with the UMD Bulldogs over the past three seasons, playing three consecutive close games during the series.

That rivalry was renewed for the fourth time Tuesday night as the Yellowjackets headed to Romano Gymnasium seeking their third win in four tries during the 2011-2012 season.

The Bulldogs seemed intent on making a statement in this meeting however.  And they did just that, jumping on UW-Superior early and never letting up on the way to posting a 75-54 victory over the Yellowjackets.

UW-Superior (2-2) stayed close through the early moments of the game, getting a jumper from Dustin Ritchie (Superior, Wis./Superior Senior), a three-pointer from Brendan Bauer (Eleva, Wis./Gilmanton) and an inside score from Bronson Byrne (Chanhassen, Minn./Chaska) to trail 8-7 with 16:45 left in the opening half.

The Bulldogs (3-1) would come right back, going on a 9-2 burst behind five quick points by Ryan Rasmussen to take a 17-9 lead with 14:50 remaining in the half.

UMD continued to pull away over the next few minutes, expanding their advantage to 31-14 on a layup from Brett Ervin with 7:57 showing on the clock.

UW-Superior came to within 11 at 33-22 on a long jumper from Adam Hjelter (Hutchinson, Minn./Hutchinson) with 4:43 remaining in the opening half.

The Bulldogs would explode late in the half however, scoring the frame's final 11 points culminating in Rasmussen's long three as time expired to take a commanding 44-22 lead into the intermission.

From there, the closest the Yellowjackets would come would be at 71-54 on driving layup by Eric Holten (Barron, Wis./Barron) with 1:02 remaining in regulation.

The Yellowjackets were paced by Hjelter with eight points.  Ritchie, Byrne and Holten each finished with seven points for the Yellowjackets as well.

UMD was led by Rasmussen with 18 points.  Ervin added 13 points while Dan Kornbaum added 12 points.

The Yellowjackets head to the UW-Platteville Thanksgiving Tournament where they will face Wisconsin Lutheran at 1 p.m. on Saturday.