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

SOMERS, Wis. (Feb. 27, 2013)-- The Great Lakes Valley Conference East Division champion University of Wisconsin-Parkside men's basketball team closes out the regular season on Thursday night, making the short trek to Romeoville, Ill. to face Lewis University.

The Rangers tip off at 8 p.m. on Thursday inside Neil Carey Arena with live stats, video and audio available. Jim Kramer will be providing play-by-play for the game on the audio feed available online at gatewaysportsweb.

About the Rangers: 13th-ranked UW-Parkside (19-6, 14-3 GLVC) looks to shake Saturday's 72-70 loss at the University of Indianapolis, a game that snapped the Rangers' nine-game win streak. UWP led by nine points with 3:15 remaining before the host Greyhounds closed out the game on a 13-2 run to earn the two-point win.

Jeremy Saffold paced the Rangers with 22 points and six rebounds while Conrad Krutwig and Andy Mazurczak added 14 and 10 points, respectively.

Saffold leads the Rangers in scoring on the season, averaging 18.5 points per game while Zygimantas Riauka adds 11.9 ppg and a team-best 5.9 rebounds per game. Krutwig contributes 11.8 ppg while Colt Grandstaff continues to provide a spark off the bench, adding 10.7 ppg.

Series History: UW-Parkside and Lewis have met 59 times with the Flyers holding a 35-24 edge in the all-time series.

Last Meeting: UW-Parkside led by eight points with 15 minutes left on Jan. 21, but was unable to contain Ryan Jackson who scored 32 points as the Flyers edged the Rangers 77-74. The defeat was the Rangers' lone GLVC setback inside DeSimone Gymnasium this season and was followed by a nine-game win streak to win the East Division.

About the Flyers: Lewis (17-8, 11-6 GLVC) has won three straight and six of the last seven, the lone setback a 78-56 defeat to Bellarmine University on Feb. 14. Since the loss, Lewis pummeled McKendree University 76-56 on Jan. 16, downed University of Indianapolis 76-63 on Jan. 23 and posted a 96-77 win over Saint Joseph's College on Saturday.

While just 7-5 on the road, the Flyers is a tough opponent inside the friendly confines of Neil Carey Arena, sporting a 10-3 record in games played in Romeoville.

Ryan Jackson leads the Flyers, averaging 16.8 ppg while David Bryant adds 12.2 ppg. Julian Lewis leads the team on the glass with 6.4 rpg while adding 7.9 ppg on the offensive end.

Lewis ranks 12th nationally in free throw percentage, hitting 76.0 percent of its opportunities from the line. The Flyers rank 34th in scoring defense, holding opponents to just 63.4 ppg while ranking 40th in scoring margin (+8.1).

National Rankings: UW-Parkside ranks in the top 25 nationally in six statistical categories. UWP is seventh nationally (out of 286 teams) in field goal percentage (50.3 percent), 12th in assist to turnover ratio (1.35), 13th in personal fouls (14.8), 18th in turnovers per game (11.4), 19th in turnover margin (+4.0) and 21st in scoring margin (+10.5).

Individually, Andy Mazurczak is 27th nationwide in assist to turnover ratio at 2.27 while Jeremy Saffold is 44th in scoring, averaging 18.5 ppg.

20-Win Club: The Rangers are one win shy of their first 20-win campaign since the 1986-1987 season. The 86-87 Rangers finished the season with a 22-8 record under head coach Rees Johnson, the last of three-straight 20-win campaigns under his tutelage. A total of eight 20-win campaigns have been tallied in program history, all of them coming between a 13-year window from 1975 to 1987.

Turnaround: UW-Parkside's turnaround from a year ago is officially the biggest single season improvement since the GLVC was formed in 1978. The Rangers were 1-17 in conference play in 2011-12 and now stand at 14-3, a 13-game improvement. The biggest turnaround prior to this season was Southern Indiana as the Screaming Eagles went from 4-14 in 1991-92 to 14-4 in 1992-93. The Rangers became the first team in league history to go from last to first in one season. University of Illinois Springfield is the closest team to have done so in the past, finishing in second place in 2011-12 with a 12-6 record after finishing 4-14 in 2010-11. 

Record Book Watch: Jeremy Saffold continues to climb the all-time scoring list and currently sits tied for sixth place with Arthur Rundles (1982-85), having tallied 1,501 career points. The senior is 11 points shy of Kyle Clark (2005-08) in fifth place. Saffold surpassed 500 career rebounds last week and currently sits with 505 in his career, 21 shy of cracking the top 10. The forward is additionally one of just three players in program history to eclipse the 1,500-points and 500-rebounds barrier. The exclusive club includes Saffold and Abdul Jeelani (2,262 points and 1,237 rebounds from 1972-75) and Levi Bradley (1,697 points and 829 rebounds from 1993-97).

GLVC in the Top 25: UW-Parkside remains No. 13 for the second straight week and marks the third week the Rangers appear in the Top 25. UWP had only three Top 25 appearances total prior to this season.

Other conference foes in the Top 25 include GLVC West Division champion Drury University at No. 8, Bellarmine at No. 15 and University of Southern Indiana at No. 19.

Tournament Time: The 2013 Deaconess GLVC Tournament will be held March 7-10 at the Ford Center in Evansville, Ind.

Tickets are available at ticketmaster.com, by phone at (800) 745-3000, or through the Ford Center box office at (812) 422-1515.

All-Tournament passes are $35, while Session Flex Passes are $25, allowing you access to any two of the first six sessions, excluding Sunday's finals.  Single-session tickets are $15 for adults and $8 for students with a valid ID, while children aged six and under are admitted free of charge.

The 2013 Deaconess GLVC Men's and Women's Basketball Championship Tournaments will feature 16 seeded teams, including eight men's and eight women's squads that will have earned an invitation following first-round matchups on their respective campuses.  On Thursday, March 7, the men's quarterfinals will take place with four games at noon, 2:30 p.m., 6 p.m., and 8:30 p.m. CT.  Friday's action will feature the four women's quarterfinal contests at the same times.  Both the men's and the women's semifinals will commence on Saturday, March 9, as the men take to the court at noon and 2:30 p.m., followed by the women at 6 p.m. and 8:30 p.m.  The men's GLVC Champion will be crowned on Sunday, March 10, at noon, followed by the women's final at 2:30 p.m.