NEW ULM, Minn. – The UW-Superior men's basketball held a nine-point lead with just over 12 minutes remaining but faltered down the stretch to drop a 62-61 decision at Martin Luther on Friday.
 
 The Yellowjackets were up, 45-36, with 12:10 on the clock when Bora Yilmaz (Istanbul, Turkey/The Knox School (N.Y.)) hit a layup off of a Josef Fahrenholtz (Chatfield, Minn./Chatfield) assist before Martin Luther mounted its comeback. The Knights (4-16, 1-8 UMAC) engineered a 19-4 run over the next five-and-a-half minutes to take the lead for good and earn their first Upper Midwest Athletic Conference victory of the season. 
 
Xavier Patterson (Superior, Wis./Superior Senior), who led all players with 22 points on 9-for-12 shooting, cut the deficit to four at 55-51 with a jumper at the 5:22 mark and then to three at 60-57 with 1:57 on the clock with a 3-pointer, to give the Yellowjackets a chance. Mason Ackley (Superior, Wis./Superior Senior) then knocked down a pair of free throws with 1:03 left to pull UWS within one. Ackley then rejected a Jack Heichelbeck shot that was rebounded by Patterson, who fed Eli Vogel (Appleton, Wis./Appleton West) cutting to basket for the led with 23 seconds remaining.
 
Ezra Blumer responded with a layup of his own with four ticks on the clock to give MLC the lead. UWS had one last attempt, but Josh Reinertsen's (Duluth, Minn./Denfeld) 3 at the buzzer grazed the front iron. 
 
The Yellowjackets (7-12, 4-5 UMAC) built a 32-25 lead at the half on the strength of 50 percent shooting from the floor. Patterson scored 17 in the half, making 7-of-10 from the field. 
 
Seth Veers (16 points, eight rebounds), Heichelbech (13 points) and Blumer (11 points, nine rebounds) helped Martin Luther top Superior for the first time in five games.
 
Next up, the 'Jackets travel to Bethany Lutheran Saturday for a 4:45 p.m. contest at North Gymnasium in Mankato, Minn.