Box Score

The UW-Parkside men's basketball team fell to #15 Northern Kentucky in the team's third straight game against a nationally ranked opponent, 77-65. It was the seventh ranked squad faced overall and fifth in the last six games. They will likely see two more next week in Southern Indiana and Kentucky Wesleyan.
 
Leneal Harris had a game-high 19 points while Ziggy Riauka was one shy of matching his career high with 17. Ethan Faulkner led four players in double figures for the Norse with 15.
 
The Rangers got off to a good start in the season's biggest crowd of the year for Alumni Day. They jumped out to a 13-7 lead in the first five minutes. Riauka went to work in the post scoring six points in the early going. Jeremy Saffold also had four points including a pair of free throws to stretch the lead to six.
 
After a Norse timeout the visitors had a run of their own. They outscored the Rangers 16-2 over the next five minutes to build an eight-point cushion.
 
Parkside scored six straight late in the half to trim their deficit to two. Kevin Senechalle finished a terrific pass from Nick Neari with a powerful dunk to make it 31-27. Riauka followed with another nifty post-up to get the Rangers back into a one possession game.
 
Northern Kentucky though would score eight of the final ten points of the half to re-open a 39-31 lead. That increased to 12 with 11:12 left in the game before another Ranger spurt.
 
The Rangers got aggressive and scored six straight points, four of which came at the free throw line, to cut the lead in half.
 
That was as close as Parkside was able to get the rest of the way however as Paul Byrd knocked down a three on the next possession to make it 61-52. Ethan Faulkner followed that with a jumper to push it back to double digits.
 
The Rangers got it down to nine on multiple occasions but were unable to get over the hump.
 
NKU, in its final trip to the DeSimone Gymnasium before moving to Division I, shot 58.5% from the floor including a 46.7% day at the three-point line (7-for-15). The Norse also cased in 12 second chance points despite just five offensive boards.
 
The Rangers won the turnover battle, 11-9, and were much more aggressive in earning their way to the charity stripe. Parkside attempted 25 free throws on Saturday, the most they've shot since January 7 at Maryville.
 
Parkside will now head on the road for the next three contests beginning on Thursday in Evansville, Ind. The Rangers will face Southern Indiana at 7:30 p.m.  The game can be heard locally on 1400 AM or on the web through gatewaysportsweb.org.