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

SOMERS, Wis. (Nov. 29, 2013)-- The University of Wisconsin-Parkside men's basketball team closes out the month of November and its five-game homestand on Saturday, welcoming defending NAIA Division II National Champion Cardinal Stritch University to DeSimone Gymnasium.

The in-state showdown between the Rangers and Wolves is slated to tipoff at 3 p.m. on Saturday. Live stats, video, and audio will be available for both games with Steve Kratochvil providing the play-by-play and Mark Olsen providing color commentary.

Series History: The Rangers and Wolves have met on four occasions with UW-Parkside winning all four encounters. The two squads last clashed on Dec. 14, 2010 with UW-P prevailing 87-74.

About the Rangers: UW-Parkside (5-1) looks to close its five-game home stay on a high note after splitting a pair of games against Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference foes in its last two outings.

The Rangers dropped their first game of the season last Saturday, succumbing to Saint Cloud State University 87-84 before downing University of Minnesota-Duluth 83-70 on Tuesday night.

Against SCSU, the Rangers led 52-46 with 15:04 left in the second half before the visiting Huskies collected 19 of the next 21 points to seize the lead for good. UW-Parkside sliced the gap to just two points on two occasions but was unable to come any closer in the three-point defeat.

Andy Mazurczak had a career-day with 23 points while Jimmy Gavin tallied 18 points and Zygimantas Riauka contributed 11 points and 10 boards.

On Tuesday against the Bulldogs, UW-Parkside utilized a big first half to establish a 16-point edge at the break en route to the 13-point win.

The two squads traded leads for the opening eight minutes before the Rangers collected 16 straight points to secure the lead for good. UW-Parkside enjoyed a 47-31 advantage at the break, shooting 66.7 percent (eight-for-12) from three-point range while committing just one turnover.

UW-P maintained a 10-point buffer the entire second half. Riauka paced the home side with 21 points and eight blocks while Jordan Mach amassed 18 points.

Riauka leads the Rangers in scoring (16.7 points per game) and rebounding (8.2 rebounds per game) this season. Jordan Mach averaged 15.7 ppg while Jimmy Gavin chips in 14.3 ppg. Colt Grandstaff adds 13.8 ppg while Mazurczak is the fifth Ranger averaging in double figures, dropping 11.5 ppg.

About the Wolves: Cardinal Stritch (7-1, 2-0 Chicagoland Collegiate Athletic Conference) heads south to Somers riding a five game win streak. Stritch, ranked No. 1 in NAIA Division II, began the season with a 2-1 record, falling 64-53 to the University of Saint Francis on Nov. 9.

Since then, the Wolves have been red hot, piling up five straight wins including a 90-79 road victory on Nov. 17 over 2013 NCAA Division II Elite Eight qualifier Winona State University.

Stritch downed NAIA No. 11 Saint Xavier University 82-74 in its CCAC opener on Nov. 20 before breezing past Trinity International University 91-71 on Tuesday night.

Three Wolves average in double figures with Derek Semenas leading the way averaging 19.8 points per game while also adding 5.1 rebounds per game. Tony Smit adds 14.5 ppg and a team-best 5.4 assists per game while Garrett Borgrud tallies 13.9 ppg and 6.0 rpg. Magd Owayed leads the squad on the glass, grabbing 6.3 rpg while adding 8.0 ppg on the offensive end.

On Wisconsin: UW-Parkside has faced in-state foes on 18 occasions since the 2003-2004 season, winning 16 of those games, including the last six. The Rangers last setback to a Badger State opponent was on Nov. 15, 2009, falling 86-81 to Concordia University Wisconsin. UW-P's only other in-state loss in the past 11 years was an 87-50 defeat to the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee on Nov. 23, 2004. The Panthers went on to win the Horizon League that season and advance to the NCAA Sweet 16.

The Rangers own wins over Cardinal Stritch, Northland International University, Saint Norbert College, Silver Lake College and Viterbo University over the last 11 seasons and own an all-time record of 105-18 against Wisconsin private colleges and universities, good for a winning percentage of 85.3 percent.

80-point Club: UW-Parkside heads into Saturday averaging 87.2 points per game and has scored at least 83 points in all six games this season. Despite posting a 20-9 record and winning the GLVC East Division, the Rangers scored more than 80 points on just seven occasions all last season.

Preseason Picks: The Rangers have been picked to finish fifth in the GLVC East, according to the league's 16 head coaches. Bellarmine University has been picked to win the division followed by the University of Southern Indiana, University of Indianapolis and Lewis University. In the West Division, defending NCAA Division II National Champion Drury University has been selected to repeat as champs.

GLVC Shuffle: This offseason the 16-member GLVC saw a few tweaks to its membership. Charter member Kentucky Wesleyan College exited the league to join the nascent Great Midwest Athletic Conference with Truman State University from the Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletic Association filling the void. The addition of Truman moved the University of Illinois Springfield from the West Division to the East Division.

Reigel's Rangers: Head Coach Luke Reigel begins his 11th season as head coach and his 14th season overall at UW-Parkside in 2013-2014. Reigel was named the 2013 Jack Bennett Man of the Year while also earning Midwest Region and GLVC Coach of the Year honors. The Wisconsin native sits second on the all-time wins list with 126 wins and has guided the Rangers to a pair of NCAA Tournament berths.

Returning to the sidelines will be assistants Tom Reigel and Andy Atkins while Keven Bradley joins the staff as the program's top assistant. Bradley joined the program over the summer after serving in a similar capacity at Upper Iowa University where he helped the Peacocks qualify for the NCAA Division II Tournament last season.