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GLVC Tournament Bracket

GLVC Tournament Website

SOMERS, Wis. (Mar. 5, 2013)-- The University of Wisconsin-Parkside men's basketball team opens postseason play against a familiar foe as the second-seeded Rangers face seventh-seeded Kentucky Wesleyan College on Thursday in the quarterfinals of the 2013 Deaconess Great Lakes Valley Conference Tournament at the Ford Center in Evansville, Ind.

The GLVC East Division Champion Rangers (19-7, 14-4 GLVC) look to down the Panthers (20-7, 11-7 GLVC) for the third time this season and cut short KWC's final trip to the GLVC Tournament in a game slated to tipoff at 6 p.m. (Live Stats)(Video)(Audio)

Live stats, video and audio will be available for the game. Eric Zizich will be on the call on the audio feed available online and on WRJN 1400 AM in southeast Wisconsin.

About the Rangers:  After securing the first division crown in program history, 17th-ranked UW-Parkside has lost two straight, falling 72-70 to host University of Indianapolis on Feb. 23 before closing the regular season with a 68-61 defeat at the hands of host Lewis University.

The pair of defeats comes on the heels of a nine-game win streak that included six victories of ranked squads including a pair against Kentucky Wesleyan when the squad was still nationally ranked.

GLVC Player of the Year Jeremy Saffold heads into the postseason averaging 19.0 points per game, as the senior forward closed the regular season with a 30-point performance against the Flyers. All-GLVC Second Teamer Zygimantas Riauka and Conrad Krutwig both contribute 11.5 ppg while All-GLVC Second Team selection Colt Grandstaff comes off the bench and adds 10.5 ppg. Riauka guides the team on the boards with 5.8 rebounds per game while Saffold and Krutwig both rip down 5.5 per game.

Series History: UW-Parkside and Kentucky Wesleyan have met 34 times since the series first began as a non-conference affair in 1990-91 with the Panthers owning a 29-5 edge in the series. UWP won both regular season meetings this season.

Round 1: UW-Parkside upset then No. 3 Kentucky Wesleyan 60-59 on Jan. 26 inside DeSimone Gymnasium with neither team finding the back of the net the final two minutes of the game. UWP led by as many as 12 points but needed a Nick Neari jumper with 2:06 remaining to reclaim the lead and hold on for the victory.

Round 2: UW-Parkside benefited from 22 points from Grandstaff, rolling up then-No. 23 Kentucky Wesleyan 75-70 on Feb. 7 in Owensboro. The Rangers led by 11 points at the break and held on down the stretch to preserve the win.

About the Panthers: Kentucky Wesleyan roared out of the gate in 2012-2013, winning its first 14 games and rising as high as No. 3 in the nation. KWC dropped five of its next six games but has since regrouped as it makes one final postseason push, having won five of its last six, including a 93-75 victory over William Jewell College on Sunday in the opening round of the GLVC Tournament.

Dazmond Starke leads the Panthers in both rebounding and scoring despite making just three starts for the club. Starke averages 15.6 ppg and 7.8 rpg off the bench while Lucas Barker and Rico Ferguson add 10.4 and 9.6 ppg, respectively. Starke leads the nation in field goal percentage, converting 67.2 percent of his opportunities.

As a team, KWC ranks 12th nationally in field goal percentage (49.3 percent) and 13th in rebounding margin (+7.9).

This is the Panthers final GLVC Tournament as KWC will compete in the Great Midwest Athletic Conference beginning in the fall of 2013.

National Rankings: UW-Parkside ranks in the top 25 nationally (out of 286) in five statistical categories. The Ranger ranked ninth in the nation in field goal percentage, hitting 50.0 percent of chances while sitting 12th in assist to turnover ratio (1.32), 13th in personal fouls per game (14.7), 20th in turnover margin (3.9) and 21st in turnovers per game (11.5).

Individually, Jeremy Saffold is 37th nationally in scoring while Zygimantas Riauka sits 78th in the nation in blocks per game (1.31).

Award Season: UW-Parkside achieved a near sweep of all the major GLVC postseason awards with head coach Luke Reigel earning GLVC Coach of the Year, Jeremy Saffold earning GLVC Player of the Year and Andy Mazurczak claiming Co-Freshman of the Year accolades.

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 finished 2012-13 at 14-4, 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 in fifth place with 1,531 career points. Saffold surpassed 500 career rebounds last week and currently sits with 509 in his career, 17 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 fell four spots to No. 17 in the week 14 rankings, remaining among the Top 25 for a school record fourth consecutive week.

Other conference foes in the Top 25 include GLVC West Division champion Drury University at No. 8, Bellarmine at No. 12 and University of Southern Indiana at No. 18.

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.