ST. PAUL, Minn. -- Junior J'Vaun Walker (Rosharon, Texas/Manvel) drove the floor, drew contact with 1.3 seconds remaining and knocked down a pair of free throws to lift the UW-Superior men's basketball team to a key 72-71 Upper Midwest Athletic Conference road victory over Northwestern at the Ericksen Center Saturday.
 
The play followed a go-ahead basket from Northwestern's Micah Pocernich with 6.6 seconds left that gave the Eagles a 71-70 edge. UNW called timeout to set its defense before Walker bulled his way into Kyle Kaemingk to get to the line.
 
The Eagles had one last opportunity, but could not get a shot off at the buzzer.
 
The win for UWS gives it a regular-season series sweep of Northwestern for the first time in the UMAC era, having also prevailed in overtime, 57-54, on Jan. 20, at Mertz Mortorelli Gymnasium. The teams are now tied for second in the UMAC standings at 8-4 in the league. Superior improved to 14-9 overall while Northwestern dropped to 13-10.
 
UNW led, 61-54, with 6:26 remaining when Henry Fahnbulleh finished off a three-point play, but the Yellowjackets responded with six straight points, including four by junior Joey Barker (Superior, Wis./Superior Senior), cutting the deficit to 61-60 with 5:13 on the clock. After a Seth Fuqua jumper, Walker scored the next two buckets, the second of which coming off of a steal and fast break, to give UWS a 64-63 lead with just under four minutes to go.
 
The teams traded baskets to 66-66 with Barker hitting a layup with 2:49 left to regain the lead. Fuqua drained a 3-pointer on the next possession prior to T.J. Moberg (Champlin, Minn./Champlin Park) hitting a jumper with 1:41 remaining.
 
UWS landed four players in double figures, including three starters, led by senior Josef Fahrenholtz (Chatfield, Minn./Chatfield) with 22 points on 7-for-15 shooting. Barker added 14 points, five rebounds and one steal, while Walker had 12, four boards and two blocks. Sophomore Andrew Kunelius (Caledonia, Minn./Caledonia) chipped in 11 points and three rebounds in 16 minutes off of the bench.
 
Northwestern, which shot 64 percent in the second half, connecting on 16-of-25 shots, to push Superior, received a double-double of 12 points and 12 rebounds from Fahnbulleh, as well as a game-high 20 points and seven boards from Kaemingk.
 
Fahrenholtz scored 17 of the 'Jackets' 32 first-half points, helping his team to a 32-30 lead at intermission after falling behind, 14-8, in the game's first four-and-a-half minutes. UWS rallied to take a 23-19 lead with nine minutes left in the period on a Fahrenholtz trey, assisted by Moberg, before it was tied two more times prior to the buzzer.
 
UWS converted 14-of-19 from the line on the day, including the deciding pair from Walker.
 
UWS returns home next Friday to host Minnesota Morris at 5:30 p.m.