Box Score

The UW-Parkside men's basketball team absorbed its first defeat of the season falling at Ferris State University, 70-65. For the third straight game the Rangers overcame a double digit deficit to take the lead but came up just short on Saturday afternoon. Parkside finished its four game run against GLIAC opponents at 3-1. They are 4-1 overall heading into Thursday's conference opener against nationally-ranked Kentucky Wesleyan at the DeSimone Gymnasium.
 
Leneal Harris led Parkside with 17 points and Jeremy Saffold added 12. Ziggy Riauka joined them in double figures with 11 points to go with five rebounds. Kevin Senechalle had a team-high seven rebounds.
 
The Rangers were plagued by turnovers on Saturday committing 24 on the day. They came into the contest averaging a GLVC-low nine giveaways on the season. Ferris turned those 24 turnovers into 28 points and coughed up the ball themselves just 12 times.
 
The Bulldogs opened up a ten point lead with 2:15 to go in the first half on a jumper by Dietrich Lever to make it 29-19. Parkside began to slowly chip away as they trailed 34-28 heading to the locker room.
 
Four points by Harris and a lay-up by Steve Jaskulske cut the deficit to one with 17:52 left in regulation. The Bulldogs scored five quick points to push the lead back to six but the Rangers refused to quit.
 
They answered with a 12-2 run to take a 46-42 lead with 11:41 left. Harris, Riauka, and Jordan Mach had three straight lay-ups to give Parkside its first advantage since midway through the first half. Harris then knocked down a big three-pointer to give the Rangers their biggest cushion of the game.
 
Ferris came back with five in a row to take the lead back before Riauka hit one of two free throws to tie the game at 47.
 
From there, the Bulldogs went on a 15-6 run to open up a 62-53 lead. Mach responded with a three to trim the deficit to six but again it was Ferris responding with six straight points to open things up.
 
A pair of late three's by Harris provided the final margin as the Rangers came up just short of their fifth straight win.
 
The Rangers will now prepare for conference play as they will host the Panthers on Kentucky Wesleyan on Thursday evening. Tip-off on December 1 is slated for 7:30 p.m.