Box Score
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Mark Albanese, Assistant Athletic Director for Sports Media Relations

Box Score

MELBOURNE, Fla. (Nov. 23, 2012)-- The University of Wisconsin-Parkside men's basketball squad suffered its first setback of the season on Friday, stumbling 53-51 to Morehouse College inside the Clemente Center in the opening game of the Hooters of Melbourne Thanksgiving Tournament.

The back and forth affair saw nine ties and 10 lead changes with neither squad holding a lead of more than eight points.

The Rangers (2-1) secured their largest lead of the day with 2:15 remaining in the opening half as back-to-back layups by Conrad Krutwig gave UWP the 28-20 advantage. The Tigers (1-2) responded, closing out the half on an 8-0 run with a Andrae Nelson layup knotting the score at 28 with three seconds left in the opening half.

Bryant Smith canned a trey with 18:02 left in the game, giving the Rangers a 31-30 lead before Morehouse rattled off eight straight to take a game-high seven points advantage with 15:25 remaining.

UW-Parkside refused to back down, utilizing a 14-2 run to claim a five-point advantage with just under nine minutes to go. Eight of the Rangers 14 points during the spurt came from the charity stripe with Zygimantas Riauka, Kevin Senechalle, Andy Mazurczak and Jeremy Saffold all sinking a pair of free throws during the run.

Morehouse reclaimed the lead with 5:23 remaining off a Jonathan Tassin free throw and never trailed the rest of the way, holding the Rangers to without a field goal the final 2:35 of play while Darrius Williams hit a pair of free throws with 18 seconds left to give the Tigers the go-ahead points. The Rangers attempted a three at the buzzer but the shot was off the mark, sending UWP its first defeat of 2012-2013.

Saffold led the Rangers with 13 points and six boards while Mazurczak was the only other UWP player in double figures, compiling 10 points along with three steals.

Nelson led the Tigers with 16 points and nine rebounds while Darrius Williams and Jonathan Tassin added 14 and 11 points, respectively.

UWP sunk 48 percent (12-for-25) of its shots in the opening 20 minutes of play before going cold in the second half, managing to shoot just 22.7 percent (five-for-22).

The Rangers wrap up the tournament in the consolation game on Saturday at 2 p.m. (Eastern) facing the loser of tonight's Florida Institute of Technology and University of Puerto Rico-Rio Piedras game.