ST. PAUL, Minn. – There are few things better than an important conference matchup on a cold winter evening in the college basketball season. Such was the case Wednesday night inside the toasty Ericksen Center as the University of Northwestern Men's Basketball team welcomed the University of Wisconsin-Superior to town. With UW-Superior coming in unbeaten in the UMAC and Northwestern sitting at just one loss, the winner was guaranteed to go to bed Wednesday evening in first place in the conference standings. In an entertaining tilt from the opening tip, the home Eagles prevailed, 82-72, thanks to some dynamite shooting from their young guards.
UNW, fresh off a last-second win over Minnesota Morris on Saturday, bolted out to a 9-0 lead on the backs of
Japheth Nyamari (Anoka, Minn./Anoka) and
AJ Greene (Roseville, Minn./Concordia Academy), who made the winning bucket in Morris. Nyamari's second three-pointer of the early goings made it 12-2, but a quick 8-0 run by the Yellowjackets closed the gap. Another Nyamari three made it 15-10, but Superior tied the game less than a minute later with a 5-0 spurt. The two squads began trading buckets, as a Frazell three was matched by UWS, and a Jacket dunk was countered by a Greene layup, evening the score at 20. Frazell and Greene would repeat their scoring sequence moments later, putting Northwestern back in front, 25-20. Four more points from Greene and a
Noah Deedrick (Rochester, Minn./Century) layup stretched the lead to eight, and two more buckets each from Deedrick and Nyamari gave UNW a 40-33 advantage heading into the half.
UW-Superior was able to trim the deficit to three before a minute had passed in the second half, but the Eagles fired back with an 11-2 run that stretched over nearly five minutes.
Soren Anderson (Perham, Minn./Perham) scored four points in the surge, Nyamari and
Kelton Vincent (Volga, S.D./Sioux Valley) each knocked down jumpers and Frazell put the cherry on top with another three-pointer. The Yellowjackets scored six straight to make it 51-45, but a Greene layup and two more treys from the sharpshooting Frazell stretched the lead back to double digits at 59-47.
UWS tried to mount a comeback, but Northwestern seemed to have an answer every time. Greene continued to cook the Jackets inside the arc, while
Caden Stevens (Highlands Ranch, Colo./Mountain Vista) and
Elijah Burns (Grand Prairie, Texas/Roseville Area) added threes to put UNW ahead, 73-56, with 5:11 remaining. Vincent hit a couple more clutch jump shots as Superior made one final push, and Nyamari's fourth and final triple of the night was the dagger, giving his team an 82-69 lead with just over a minute to play. The 82-72 final puts the Eagles at 9-7 overall this season and 4-1 in the UMAC, while the Yellowjackets fall to 7-9 and 4-1 in the UMAC.
Hopefully those inside the Ericksen Center brought their umbrellas, because Northwestern was raining shots from every area of the floor. UNW shot 53.2% from the field (33-62) and an even 50% from three (11-22). The Eagles also out-rebounded Superior, 34-21. Nyamari led the charge with 24 points and two steals, while Greene contributed 18 points, six rebounds, three assists and two steals. Frazell made five threes en route to a 15-point effort in just 14 minutes, and Vincent chipped in seven points. Anderson pulled down a game-high 13 rebounds and dished out three assists. Burns also logged three assists, while Deedrick's 13 minutes saw him score six points and snag four boards.
The Eagles will look to continue their momentum Saturday at Crown College. Tip-off is slated for 3:00 PM and the game can be seen on the UMAC Sports Network.
