MANKATO, Minn. – The 2019-20 season will go down in the books as one of the most successful in the history of men's basketball at UW-Superior.
 
The Yellowjackets earned a berth in the Upper Midwest Athletic Conference tournament, coming in as the No. 3 seed. It's the highest the Yellowjackets have been ranked at the end of a regular season since 1978-79. The Yellowjackets won 16 games, the second time they've hit the mark since the program set a school record of 21 wins in, you guessed it, 1978-79. It was a year of renewed enthusiasm, both within the program and outside of it on campus and in the community.
 
And it all came to an end Wednesday night. Bethany Lutheran led wire-to-wire, building up a more than 20-point lead in the opening half and cruising past the Yellowjackets 92-72 at North Gymnasium.
 
The loss was the second in five days at Bethany Lutheran, who will advance to the UMAC Championship against No. 4 St. Scholastica. The Saints pulled the upset of the year Wednesday, defeating top-seeded Northwestern 85-82.
 
Bethany Lutheran scored the first five points of the game in the opening minute and later went on a 13-0 run to blow things open before the first half reached its midpoint. Bethany rarely missed in the first half, shooting at a clip of 67.7 percent from the field. For the Yellowjackets Allen Anderson (Brooklyn Park, Minn./Osseo) was the hot shooter, scoring 16 in the opening half to lead all scorers. He was 6-for-9 from the field and 3-for-4 from outside, but the Yellowjackets found themselves down 50-35 at the break.
 
The Vikings went on another series run to open the second half, scoring 17 points in the first five minutes and putting the game out of reach the rest of the way.
 
Anderson finished the game with a career-high 31 points in his final game as a Yellowjacket. He also had five assists. Eli Vogel (Appleton, Wis./Appleton West) had 13 points, the only other Yellowjacket to finish in double figures. Vid Milenkovic (Zurich, Switzerland/DSB Belgrade (Serbia)) struggled from the field all night and finished with just seven points, but did have a team-high 12 rebounds.
 
In addition to Anderson and Milenkovic, seniors Joe Kramer (Elk River, Minn./Elk River), Colton Williams (Columbia Heights, Minn./Columbia Heights), Mac Reykdal (Washburn, Wis./Washburn) and Andrew McGill (St. Germain, Wis./Lakeland Union) all played their final game for the Yellowjackets.
 
The Yellowjackets finished the season 16-10.