SUPERIOR, Wis. -- After starting 2019 off on a high note, the last few contests have been rough for the University of Minnesota Morris men's basketball team, losing their last UMAC contest.

Saturday, the Cougars traveled to Superior in a rematch of the Cougs' 84-77 win over the Yellow jackets back on Dec. 8.

The last time the two teams faced UW_Superior was able to stay within striking distance for much of the game due to the ability to shoot from long range.

This time around it wasn't the longe range attempts that kept it close, but rather just Jackets' shooting in general.

Shooting 50 percent from the floor, UW-Superior managed to pull away from the Cougars late for a 72-67 win, extending Minnesota Morris' conference losing streak to three games.

The Cougars traded blows with the Yellow jackets for much of the first half. In fact, they were able to stay within a possession for the first few minutes of the first half. However, after Jeffrey Halverson's layup at the 14:47-mark of the first half tied the game at 10-10, UW-Superior started to heat up. The Jackets would break the game open to a 24-17 contest until Trent Jerome's jumper sparked the Cougars.

Minnesota Morris chipped away at the lead for much of the final five minutes of the first half and eventually crawled back to within a one possession game after Trey Heinsuis knocked down a trey after receiving a pass from James Pendleton. Just a possession later, Nick Peterson gave the game its second tie of the evening with 2:13 left in the first half. Minnesota Morris would capture its first lead of the game after Jeremy Halverson connected on a free throw attempt with a minute left.

The second was almost identical to the first half as both squads were unable to lengthen any lead, staying within a possession or two of each other. The Jackets were able to jump out to the early lead, but the trio of Noah Grove and the Halverson brothers were able to crawl the Cougars back into striking distance. The final ten minutes of the contest may in fact by the best basketball the Cougars have played down the stretch, particularly from the starting five. Jeremy Halverson, Jeffrey Halverson, Heinsuis and Grove all played close to 30 minutes and reached double figures for the Cougars with Jeffrey Halverson scoring a team-high 16 points. In fact, of the Cougars' 67 points, 59 came from the starting five. Heinsuis finished with 11 points while Grove and Jeremy Halverson scored 15 and 10 points respectively.

The Cougars would take their final lead of the contest at 63-60 with 2:50 left in the second half before the Yellow jackets rallied.

Minnesota Morris (6-10, 4-4 UMAC) will be back in action Tuesday with a home contest against Trinity Bible College. Tip-off is set for 7:15 P.M.