SUPERIOR, Wis. – The UW-Superior men's basketball team closed the regular season with a 69-62 loss to Northwestern at Mertz Mortorelli Gym Monday.
 
The Yellowjackets will be the No. 5 seed in the Upper Midwest Athletic Conference tournament and face fourth-seeded Bethany Lutheran in the quarterfinals Thursday at 7 p.m.
 
Monday's game was tightly contest throughout featuring 16 lead changes and five tie scores, with neither team gaining more than a five-point advantage in the first half. Northwestern opened the second half with a 7-1 run to create separation. UWS scored the next eight to pull even at 40-40 with 13:47 to play as Mason Ackley (Superior, Wis./Superior Senior) and J'Vaun Walker (Rosharon, Texas/Manvel) hit consecutive 3-pointers. 
 
The 'Jackets extended the run with a Walker jumper and layup by Souleymane Gueye (Paris, France/Monsignor Scanlan (N.Y.)) on the next two possessions. Caleb Waldeck then hit back-to-back treys to give the Eagles a 48-44 with 10:27 remaining. Northwestern's Noah Alm rattled off the next six points for a 54-44 advantage, the only double-digit lead for either side on the night.
 
A Bora Yilmaz (Istanbul, Turkey/The Knox School (N.Y.)) triple, assisted by Eli Vogel (Appleton, Wis./Appleton West), coupled with a Josef Fahrenholtz (Chatfield, Minn./Chatfield) jumper off a feed from Ackley cut the deficit to 54-49 with six minutes on the clock. The Eagles pushed it back to an eight-point game before Yilmaz hit a layup from Walker to slice the lead to four at 57-53 with four minutes left. Gueye knocked down a 3-pointer to make it a 61-56 game. The teams traded buckets until Walker stole an in-bounds pass and fed Vogel for a layup and a 65-62 score with 22 seconds left. Northwestern, though, hit all four of its free throws in the closing seconds – and 15-of-17 for the game – for the win.
 
Vogel paced UWS (3-3) with 13 points and added three assists. Walker had 12 points, five assists and four rebounds and Xavier Patterson (Superior, Wis./Superior Senior) chipped in with a career-high 12 points with four rebounds and a block off the bench.
 
Alm led UNW (10-3, 6-2 UMAC) with 18 points in the win.