MINNEAPOLIS -- North Central shot 57.4 percent from the field, including over 56 percent after halftime to erase a five-point deficit, and held on down the stretch for an 80-76 victory over the UW-Superior men's basketball team in Upper Midwest Athletic Conference action Friday.
 
The Yellowjackets (13-9, 7-4 UMAC) used a balanced attack with four players scoring in double figures -- led by junior Joey Barker (Superior, Wis./Superior Senior) with 19 points on 8-for-11 from the floor -- but North Central missed just 14 shots in the final 20 minutes, sending UWS to its second consecutive loss. 
 
The Rams (12-9, 6-5) were 31-for-54 from the field for the game and 8-for-17 (47.1 percent) from 3-point range, spurring the comeback. UWS opened a 16-10 lead with 10:56 remaining in the first half when senior Levy Miguel (Luanda, Angola/Canarias Basketball Academy) drew contact on a layup and completed a three-point play. NCU pulled even at 20-20 with a Caden Freetly layup with 7:23 on the clock.
 
With the game tied at 27-27 with 3:52 in the first half, junior T.J. Moberg (Champlin, Minn./Champlin Park) splashed a 3-pointer off of a pass from sophomore Andrew Kunelius (Caledonia, Minn./Caledonia). The bucket sparked a 10-5 run to close the half and gave UWS a 37-32 advantage at the break.
 
Barker and Moberg knocked down the first two shots of the second half as the Superior lead grew to its largest of the contest at 41-32 with less than two minutes off the clock. From there, the Rams cobbled together a 10-0 run to take a 42-41 edge with 15:53 to play, as Tanner Holtman gathered his own miss and put it back up and in.
 
Josef Fahrenholtz (Chatfield, Minn./Chatfield), who contributed 14 points and four rebounds to the 'Jackets' cause, scored their next six to give his team back the lead, 47-42. North Central responded again with five straight points, including a Micah Filer trey, for a 47-47 tie before Ty Melchert (Green Bay, Wis./Green Bay Southwest) and Kunelius hit consecutive triples for a 53-47 UWS edge with 13:27 left.
 
Jonathan Thompson later rebounded a Freetly miss and put it in, making it a 57-55 lead for the Rams with less than nine minutes remaining. A Barker 3-pointer on the next possession made it 58-57 Superior and then Reid Johnson (Chatfield, Minn./Chatfield) stripped Filer of the ball and fed ahead to Miguel for a dunk a three-point lead.
 
Down, 63-62, with 6:47 left following a Barker three-point play, NCU used an 11-6 spurt to take a 73-69 lead with two minutes remaining. Fahrenholtz then couldn't finish off another three-point play on the next trip as Superior got as close as 73-71.
 
North Central salted the game away at the line in final minute.
 
Filer scored a game-high 26 points on 10-for-15 shooting while Holtzman added 20, Freetly had 11 and Thompson 10 for the Rams. 
 
Miguel scored 11 points off the bench for UWS and Moberg chipped in 10 for UWS, which shot 46.2 percent and was outrebounded, 36-25.
 
UWS next heads to Northwestern Saturday 3 p.m.