SUPERIOR, Wis.: The UW-Superior men's basketball team had three players score double figures and shot 56.5 percent from the field in the first half, but visiting Lawrence used a 40-point second half to top the Yellowjackets in the final game of the 2018 Merrill Thompson Classic at Mertz Mortorelli Gym on Saturday.

Senior Montroy Scott (Fridley, Minn./Columbia Heights) scored a game-high 18 points and grabbed eight rebounds for Superior. Classmate Colton Williams (Columbia Heights, Minn./Columbia Heights) recorded 13 points and eight boards of his own, while sophomore Ronny Galvan (Beloit, Wis./Beloit Turner) added 11 points, two rebounds and two assists as UWS fell to 1-1 to open the season.

Both teams were lights out from the floor in the first half with the 'Jackets shooting 56.5 percent (13-for-23) from the field and Lawrence hitting half of its of 24 attempts in the opening 20 minutes.

The Vikings jumped out to a 27-12 lead with 7:47 remaining in the first half before UWS began to chip away, cutting the LU advantage to 10 with a Scott 3-pointer and Williams layup made it a 27-17 game with 6:36 to play in the half. Another Scott basket coupled with layups from Williams and Galvan cut the deficit to three with two minutes left. A bucket from Andrew McGill (St. Germain, Wis./Lakeland Union) inside the final minute put the Yellowjackets within one at 32-31 – the closest they got going into the halftime.

A Galvan layup at 19:05 of the second half gave the 'Jackets a one-point edge at 35-34. The lead grew to as many as six at 48-42 on a John Pioro (Proctor, Minn./Proctor) trey with 14:35 left, but Lawrence  got a Venkatesh Abishek jumper with under eight minutes left that made it a 58-56 game for the Vikings and they never looked back.
George Mavrakis hit a three with 3:30 that expanded the Lawrence lead to 70-60 and that was enough for the LU win.

Lawrence shot 53.2 percent for the game on 25-of-47 from the field and put four players in double digits with Abishek (15 points), Brad Sendell and Mavrakis (14 apiece) and Bryce Denham (10) leading the way for the Vikings, who improved to 1-1 on the season after falling to UW-Stout Friday.

Superior returns to action Tuesday at Hamline. Tip time is set for 7 p.m.