APPLETON, Wis. – Juniors Eli Vogel (Appleton, Wis./Appleton West) and Xavier Patterson (Superior, Wis./Superior Senior) combined for 39 points and 15 rebounds, but Lawrence defeated the UW-Superior men's basketball team, 78-68, at Alexander Gymnasium on Saturday.
 
Vogel, an Appleton native, matched his season highs of 22 points and seven rebounds and Patterson set career bests with 17 points, eight boards and six assists to lead the Yellowjackets in their final game of the first semester. Sophomore Joey Barker (Superior, Wis./Superior Senior) came off the bench for a career-high-tying 10 points in 15 minutes to round out the three UWS players in double figures.
 
Lawrence led virtually the entire contest, taking control of the game for good on a Brandon Danowski 3-pointer with 13:39 remaining in the first half that made it 12-9 Vikings. From there, Lawrence (5-6) built a 30-16 advantage over the next five minutes, capped by a Julian DeGuzman layup with 8:48 remaining in the opening half.
 
The Yellowjackets used a 13-2 run to slice the deficit to just 32-29 with less than two minutes on the clock before halftime. Four players contributed points in the stretch, led by Vogel with five, including one of his five 3-pointers, that made it 32-27 with 3:31 left.
 
Lawrence, though, closed the frame scoring the final two buckets of the period and extended the run to 9-0 in the early stages of the second half for a 41-29 edge. A Kyle Lilliwitz trey gave LU its largest lead of the day at 48-32 with 14:18 to play, but UWS was able to whittle the deficit to six over the next 10 minutes with a Patterson jumper for a 61-55 game. 
 
The 'Jackets got no closer as Lawrence sank four of its final five field-goal attempts and all eight free throws for the victory.
 
Lawrence shot 49.1 percent for the game, including 54.2 percent in the second half, while Superior hit half of its shots after halftime, going 14-for-28, and finished 26-of-65 (40 percent) for the game.
 
Lawrence won the rebounding battle, 38-34, with the help of Adnan Sarancic's 15. Sarancic added 18 points to complete a double-double. Lilliwitz finished with a team-high 20 points, while Brad Sendell and Danowski tallied 15 and 10, respectively.
 
UWS (3-7) now breaks for the holidays before returning to the D3hoops.com Classic for a second time in history in Las Vegas on Dec. 28. Superior faces Saint Mary's at 5 p.m., central time, in its opening game.