SUPERIOR, Wis. -- North Central used a late 9-2 run to snap the UW-Superior men's basketball team's seven-game winning streak with a 67-63 victory at Mertz Mortorelli Gymnasium on Saturday.
UWS took the lead, 55-54, with 5:42 remaining on a
T.J. Moberg (Champlin, Minn./Champlin Park) jumper, before NCU received a go-ahead layup from Tanner Holtzman on the next possession and Zach Kjeseth converted a jumper in the lane to push the lead to 58-55.
Reid Johnson (Chatfield, Minn./Chatfield) then hit a pair of free throws to cut the deficit to one prior to Holtzman draining a 3-pointer for a 61-57 lead with 2:15 to play.
Holtzman then stole the ball from
Josef Fahrenholtz (Chatfield, Minn./Chatfield) and Micah Filer hit a jumper for a 63-57 edge at the 1:34 mark. A
Joey Barker (Superior, Wis./Superior Senior) layup with 46 seconds remaining cut it to 63-61, but Filer responded with a jumper on the next trip to make it a four-point game, sealing it.
Levy Miguel (Luanda, Angola/Canarias Basketball Academy) led the Yellowjackets with 19 points on 6-for-13 shooting, pacing three in double figures for UWS, which held a 31-28 halftime lead in a back-and-forth game that featured seven tie scores and 11 lead changes.
The Rams shot 55.5 percent from the field, outscoring UWS by seven in the second half. Filer scored a game-high 23 points on 9-for-16 from the floor and Caden Fleetly added 14 points and 10 rebounds for NCU, which improved to 11-6 overall and 5-2 in the UMAC with the win.
UWS built an eight-point advantage in the first half on two occasions, both courtesy of
Andrew Kunelius (Caledonia, Minn./Caledonia). He hit a trey for a 29-21 lead with 3:59 remaining and later a jumper at the 3:27 mark for a 31-23 lead. NCU closed the gap before the break as Filer grabbed a rebound a hit a jumper to lead his team into the locker room down three points.
Kjeseth scored 11 points ad grabbed four boards for the Rams.
Barker scored 10 while
Ethan Rens (Dayton, Minn./Champlin Park) tallied a career-high 10 points in 11 minutes in the loss.
UWS (10-7, 5-2) returns to action when it hosts Finlandia Friday at 5:30 p.m.
