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

SOMERS, Wis. (Jan. 15, 2013)-- The University of Wisconsin-Parkside men's basketball squad sits in a three-way tie for first place in the Great Lakes Valley Conference East Division at 4-0 and embarks on its second road trip of the conference season, opening up divisional play against No. 12 Bellarmine University on Thursday and McKendree University on Saturday.

The Rangers tip off at 7:30 p.m. on Thursday in Louisville, Ky. against the Knights and take to the court on 3 p.m. on Saturday in Lebanon, Ill. against the Bearcats. Live stats along with video and audio will be available. Eric Zizich will be providing commentary on the audio feed available online and on WRJN 1400 AM in southeast Wisconsin.

About the Rangers: UW-Parkside (9-3) is 4-0 in GLVC play for the first time in program history, rolling off a pair wins inside DeSimone Gymnasium last week. The Rangers led wire-to-wire in their GLVC home opener on Jan. 10, downing Rockhurst University 85-63. The Hawks threatened midway through the second half, closing to within seven points with 9:40 remaining before UWP pulled away with a 16-0 run over the next four minutes to ice the contest.

On Saturday, GLVC West Division leader William Jewell College was in town with the Rangers prevailing 77-69. Jewell secured the opening seven points of the game before the Rangers took their first lead of the day at 12-11 with 12:27 remaining. A Nick Neari three-pointer gave the Rangers a 15-13 lead and the squad never trailed the rest of the way, taking a 36-30 lead into halftime.

The Cardinals tied the game on five occasions in the second half but the Rangers answered the call each time, the last of which with 13:44 remaining. The Rangers quickly retaliated with a three from Bryant Smith to spark an 8-0 run. UWP held at least a five-point cushion the rest of the way.

Jeremy Saffold leads the GLVC and is 12th nationally in scoring, averaging 21.4 points per game. Zygimantas Riauka leads the team in rebounds with 6.2 rpg while also adding 13.4 ppg. Conrad Krutwig adds 10.8 ppg while Colt Grandstaff is the leading scorer off the bench, tallying 8.6 ppg.

Grandstaff had a huge week against Rockhurst and William Jewell, scoring 17 points against the Hawks in just 20 minutes of action before pouring on a career-high 20 points on Saturday against the Cardinals.

Jan. 17 vs. Bellarmine at Knights Hall (Live Stats)(Video)(Audio)

Series History: The Rangers and Knights have met 30 times on the hardwood with Bellarmine holding a 24-6 advantage in the series. BU has won six straight in the series with UW-Parkside's last victory coming during the 2007-2008 season, a 73-67 victory inside DeSimone Gymnasium on March 1.

Last Season: The Knights defeated the Rangers 99-69 on Jan. 21 in Louisville before sweeping the season series on Jan. 2 in Somers, emerging with a 90-71 win.

About the Knights: 12th-ranked Bellarmine enters Thursday's clash with a 10-2 record and a 2-2 mark in GLVC play. The Knights opened the season by rattling off 10 straight wins but have since dropped two straight. BU suffered an 87-82 loss to University of Missouri-Saint Louis on Jan. 10 before succumbing to host Maryville University 69-64 on Jan. 12.

Bellarmine has four players averaging in double figures led by Vance Hall. Hall ranks ninth in the GLVC in scoring, averaging 16.3 points per game. Chris Dowe ads 14.1 ppg while Keisten Jones and Jake Thelen contribute 11.1 and 10.4 ppg, respectively. Thelen leads BU on the glass, averaging 5.4 rebounds per contest.

The Knights have utilized the same starting lineup all season. The lineup features the squad's four leading scorers: Hall, Dowe, Jones and Thelen along with Jelani Johnson.
Bellarmine leads the GLVC and ranks fourth nationally in field goal percentage, hitting 52.2 percent of its opportunities this season while ranking seven in scoring margin (+17.9) and 23rd in rebounding margin (+23rd).

Jan. 19 vs. McKendree at the Melvin Price Convocation Center (Live Stats)(Video)(Audio)

Series History: The Rangers and have met just once on the hardwood. UW-Parkside defeated host McKendree 81-67 during the 1988-1989 season. This is McKendree's first season as a member of the GLVC, the Bearcats previously competed in the NAIA as an independent in 2011-2012 and as a member of the American Midwest Conference prior to that.

About the Bearcats: McKendree (7-7, 1-3 GLVC) enters Thursday's game against Lewis having lost four of its last five games, including a pair of GLVC contests last week. The Bearcats fell 72-69 on the road against Maryville on Jan. 10 before suffering a 78-54 blowout loss at the hands of UMSL.

Clinton Happe leads the Bearcats in scoring and is second in the GLVC averaging 18.0 ppg while John Steppe is third in the league in scoring at 17.4 ppg and fourth in rebounding (7.9 rpg) while averaging 3.0 assists per game. Matt Murphy chips in 12.9 ppg while Mike DiGregorio adds 11.9 ppg.

McKendree leads the league in three-point field goal defense, allowing opponents to shooting just 26.5 percent from beyond the arc.

National Rankings: UW-Parkside is just sixth in the GLVC in scoring margin (+14.9) but rank 13th nationally (out of 286) in the same category. The Rangers sit 21st in field goal percentage (49.4 percent), 10th in free throw percentage (76.5 percent), seventh in assist to turnover ratio (1.42), eighth in turnovers per game (11.0) and 13th in turnover margin (+5.4).

Andy Mazurczak is ranked seventh in assist to turnover ratio (3.27) while Bryant Smith is 12th at 2.93. Mazurczak is second in the GLVC in the same category while Smith is third. Zygimantas Riauka sits just outside the top 50 nationally in blocks with 1.5 bpg and is ranked second within the conference.

Record Book Watch: Saffold continues to climb the program's all-time scoring list. With 1,295 career points, the forward is 12th on the all-time list. He is 1 point shy of 11th held by Andy Schmidtmann (1987-90) and 39 points short of Chuck Chambliss (1971-74) and cracking the top ten.

Saturday's victory over William Jewell gives head coach Luke Reigel 111 victories, tying him for second place on UW-Parkside's all-time coaching wins list with Rees Johnson, who patrolled the court from 1982-1988.

Beast of the East: Four of the GLVC East Division's eight teams appear in the top 25 this week. Kentucky Wesleyan College (12-0, 4-0 GLVC) sits at No. 4 while the University of Indianapolis (12-0, 4-0 GLVC) is fifth. Bellarmine is ranked No. 12 while the University of Southern Indiana (10-2, 3-1) rounds out the ranked teams, checking in at No. 15.

Road Warriors: UW-Parkside is 3-0 in true road games in 2012-2013. The Rangers edged the University of Minnesota-Duluth 67-61 to begin the season on Nov. 11 before picking up a pair of GLVC road wins last week. Of the Rangers' three defeats, two have come inside DeSimone Gymnasium while the other was a two-point loss to Morehouse College on a neutral floor at the Hooters of Melbourne Thanksgiving Tournament in Florida.