Superior, WI - The Martin Luther College men's basketball team put up a hard-nosed effort in their road contest at UW-Superior on Saturday and fought the Yellowjackets throughout the game and traded the lead back-and-forth with their counterpart, but ultimately came up short in the Overtime period, 78-72.

The Knights had lost their first matchup with UW-Superior at home in mid-January 91-62. Still, this time did a much better job of limiting the Yellowjackets' offensively and as a result held UW-Superior to only 63 points in regulation which was a season-best against UMAC opponents. However, the Yellowjackets put together 15 points on 6-of-8 shooting from them in the extra five minutes thanks to J'Vaun Walker and Reid Johnson.

MLC held the lead at halftime 30-27 after going up by nine points (23-14) and contained UW-Superior to just 29 percent shooting from the field.

The game featured 21 lead changes and 11 ties and MLC was on the right side for most of the second half. A jumper from Walker put the Yellowjackets up 63-62 at around 1:30, while a Seth Veers free throw tied it up 63-63 to send it into overtime.

Benjamin Pearson had his best all-around performance and had a career-high 29 points and grabbed eight rebounds and two steals to anchor the Knights' backcourt. Adam Loberger also recorded eight boards and added 17 points to help keep the Knights in the game.

Neither team shot the ball well from deep, but UW-Superior had a 38-22 advantage in points in the paint.

MLC (7-14, 2-8) now will look to pick up a W in the win column when they host Crown College on Wednesday, February 12, at 5:30 p.m.