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

Box Score

SOMERS, Wis. (Feb. 16, 2013)-- The No. 21 University of Wisconsin-Parkside men's basketball team inched one step closer to its first Great Lakes Valley Conference East Division title in program history on Saturday afternoon inside DeSimone Gymnasium, holding on for a 74-72 victory over No. 13 Bellarmine University. The wire-to-wire victory was the Rangers' eighth consecutive win and was the seventh victory this season against a Top 25 opponent.

The Rangers (18-5, 13-2 GLVC) led by as many as 17-points before weathering a second half comeback attempt by the Knights (18-5, 10-5 GLVC). GLVC East Division leading UW-Parkside owns a two-game advantage over second place University of Southern Indiana (18-5, 11-4 GLVC) with three games to play and a three-game buffer over third place Bellarmine.

Visiting Bellarmine faced a 10-point deficit with just under seven minutes remaining in the game before mounting an 11-2 run over the next two and a half minutes to pull within a point at 66-65 with 4:07 remaining. The Rangers pushed their lead back up to five courtesy of a Colt Grandstaff fast break layup set up by a Conrad Krutwig steal with two minutes left. A pair of converted free throws brought Bellarmine back to within a possession, trailing 70-67 with 76 seconds left.

Grandstaff drained a three with 26 seconds left to increase the buffer to six before Max Clemons responded with a three of his own just five seconds later. Bellarmine fouled with 17 seconds left and the Rangers' missed the front end of a one-and-one, returning the ball back to the Knights. Ryan Burton drained a deep shot that was ruled a two-pointer with 8.2 seconds left to close within one and fouled Grandstaff with 6.9 seconds left on the inbounds play. Grandstaff hit his first free throw but missed his second, giving BU one final chance to tie or win the game.

Jeremy Saffold secured the Ranger two-point win with a block as time expired on a Chris Dowe layup, pushing the squad's win streak to eight games.

UW-Parkside charged out of the gates, scoring the game's first seven points while building a 23-6 edge just under nine minutes into the game. The Rangers held a double digit lead the rest of the half, enjoying a 40-30 lead at intermission.

Saffold logged a huge opening half with 18 points at the break, finishing the contest with a game-high 27 points, hitting 10 of his 13 shots from the floor, including five-of-six from three-point range. Krutwig poured on 21 points while Grandstaff continues to be an asset off the bench, chipping in 12 points and five assists. Bryant Smith dished out nine assists while adding four points.

All five Bellarmine starters finished in double figures with Dowe leading the way with 16 points. Vance Hall added 15 while Jake Thelen had 12 points and a game-high eight rebounds. Jelani Johnson and Keisten Jones added 11 and 10 points, respectively.

Both teams had great shooting afternoons, UW-Parkside shot 55.8 percent (29-for-52) for the game and 50 percent (10-for-20) from three-point range while Bellarmine hit 52.9 percent (27-for-51) from the field while canning all 13 of their free throw tries.

The Rangers close out the regular season home schedule on Thursday, welcoming Saint Joseph's College to DeSimone Gymnasium with tipoff slated for 7:30 p.m.