Box Score
The nation's tenth-ranked men's basketball team in NCAA Division II had all it could handle in the DeSimone Gymnasium Sunday afternoon. Visiting Kentucky Wesleyan notched a 15-point lead early and it appeared as if it would waltz away with another convincing victory.
UW-Parkside clawed its way back in, knotting the score at 66-66 at the end of regulation play, before falling, 81-73, in overtime.
The Panthers are now 8-1 overall and 1-1 in the Great Lakes Valley Conference. UW-Parkside dropped its fifth game by a single digit margin and is now 4-6 overall. The Rangers are 1-2 in GLVC play.
Parkside worked its way back into the game in the second half, catching the Panthers at 50-50 with 9:10 remaining. Jeremy Saffold had a personal 13-0 run to pull the Rangers back to even.
After a 6-0 Panther run late in the game, Sam Katula hit a huge three-point shot from the deep right corner with 1:20 left to pull the Rangers to within two at 66-64. After a defensive stop, Laneal Harris tied the game up by knifing his way underneath and scoring a bucket. KWC's Cardell McFarland missed a three-pointer at the buzzer to force an extra 5-minute session.
UW-Parkside came up empty on its first four possessions of overtime. Saffold scored the first Ranger points of the extra session with 1:45 to go on a three-ball to make it 72-69, but the Rangers could get no closer.
Saffold, who played 42 minutes in the contest, tallied 22 points to lead the Rangers on 9-13 shooting from the floor. Harris chipped in 18 points to the Ranger cause.
Kwan Waller and Anthony Young each came up with 21 points for the Panthers.
The Rangers go from playing the No. 10 team in the nation to the No. 1 team in their next game. The Knights of Bellarmine University will pay a visit to the DeSimone Gymnasium Tuesday, Jan. 4, for a 7:30 p.m. game.
