SUPERIOR, Wis. – As the saying goes, it feels good to be back home.
 
That was the case for the Yellowjacket men's basketball team, who after opening the season with four straight games at home, and fashioning a 3-1 record in the process, went on the road for seven rugged, non-conference games over the course of almost two months.
 
The road wasn't kind to the Yellowjackets, but they put that behind them Wednesday, when they returned to play at home for the first time since Nov. 16.
 
In a back-and-forth affair, the Yellowjackets rallied from an early second-half deficit to emerge with an 89-87 win over North Central at Mertz Mortorelli Gym Wednesday.
 
With the win, the Yellowjackets opened Upper Midwest Athletic Conference (UMAC) with a win and in the process snapped a seven-game skid to improve to 4-8 overall on the year.
 
North Central came out strong after halftime, hitting nine of its first 10 shots to erase a 42-39 Yellowjacket lead in the first few minutes of the second half. The lead reached 11 points multiple times in the second half – the last coming with just over eight minutes to play, before a Yellowjacket surge quickly closed the gap and made things interesting down the stretch.
 
Joey Barker (Superior, Wis./Superior Senior) provided the winning margin Wednesday, hitting a pair of free throws with four seconds to play to break the 87-87 tie.
 
Wednesday was a huge game for Yellowjacket Reid Johnson (Chatfield, Minn./Chatfield), who paced all scorers with a career high 33 points. Johnson was 11-of18 shooting and was a sharpshooter from beyond the arc, hitting on 7-of-10 shots. Johnson also had four rebounds and three assists.  
 
Game Notes

• The Yellowjackets had a good run early on, scoring four of the first five points. A 12-0 run later put the Yellowjackets in front 16-6, their biggest lead of the opening half.
• North Central countered that early Yellowjacket run with a run of its own, closing the gap to three, 18-15.
• The score would be tied three times in the second half of the first, but the Yellowjackets would again open up a bigger lead, punctuated by a Andrew Beers (Slinger, Wis./Slinger) dunk to make it 41-35.
• After North Central built the lead in the second half, the Yellowjackets began to chip away when Rocco Paulson (Duluth, Minn./Duluth East) hit a jumper with just under 10 minutes to go. Andrew Kunelius (Caledonia, Minn./Caledonia) and Johnson hit back-to-back threes, cutting the North Central lead to 75-70.
• With 4:38 to play Barker hit a jumper to make it a one-possession game, 81-78.
• Johnson cut the North Central lead to one, 81-80, with 3:23 to go. A steal by T.J. Moberg (Champlin, Minn./Champlin Park) led to a layup from J'Vaun Walker (Rosharon, Texas/Manvel), giving the Yellowjackets their first lead of the second half, 82-81.
• A pair of Johnson free throws with 2:36 remaining had the Yellowjackets up 84-83, and they would never trail again.
• The Yellowjackets shot 49.2 percent from the field for the game, including 54.2 percent from beyond the arc.
• The 13 three pointers the Yellowjackets made were a season high.
• Barker had a big game as well, finishing with 25 points on 8-of-15 shooting. He also had a team-high six rebounds.
• Walker had 12 points to go along with three assists and four rebounds.
• Moberg led the Yellowjackets with six assists and also had three rebounds, two steals and a block.

The Yellowjackets will be back on the road Saturday when they travel to Mankato for a date with Bethany Lutheran, the pre-season favorite in the UMAC. The opening tip is set for 3 p.m. at North Gymnasium.
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