WATERLOO, IA - The Dubuque Fighting Saints (20-9-0-0, 40 pts) held on for a 5-4 win over the Waterloo Black Hawks (12-9-4-4, 32 pts) on Tuesday night.

Michael Barron's team-leading 12th goal of the year at 6:09 of the third period put Dubuque ahead 5-2, helping extend the Saints' lead early in the third. The goal came just after Matthew Desiderio's 10th goal of the season put the Saints up 4-2 just 53 seconds into the third period.

Desiderio leads all USHL defensemen with 10 goals this season and is second with 24 points among blue liners.

Despite allowing two goals in the third and facing 14 shots in the final frame, the Saints held on and withstood the Waterloo push. Jan Špunar made 31 saves in his 12th win of the season and stopped 12 shots in the final frame.

The Saints continued to see contribution from their blue line with Edison Engle's first goal of the season in the second period. The defenseman scored in his debut for the Fighting Saints after being acquired on Saturday. Engle followed a rush up the ice with Cole Spicer and Lucas Van Vliet and buried a rebound chance to put the Saints up 3-1 in the second.

Earlier in the second, Dubuque opened the scoring with Colin Frank's seventh on a bounce off of a Waterloo defenseman. The Saints extended their lead to 2-0 with Jonathan Morello's third of the season on the power play. Morello's tally was the lone goal the Saints scored on a major power-play in the second.

The Fighting Saints extended their road record to 12-3-0-0 this season and remained perfect in five games against Waterloo this season.

Dubuque returns home on Friday to open a two-game set with Eastern Conference rival Youngstown at ImOn Arena.