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

SOMERS, Wis. (Jan. 22, 2014)-- The Great Lakes Valley Conference East Division leading University of Wisconsin-Parkside men's basketball team continues its grueling week on Thursday, facing a pair of top 10 squads in Bellarmine University and the University of Southern Indiana.

The Rangers began the week on Monday, knocking off No. 23 Lewis University 94-88 and will face No. 7 Bellarmine on Thursday at 7:30 p.m. before concluding the week with a 3 p.m. date on Saturday with No. 9 Southern Indiana. Live stats, video and audio will be provided for both games. Steve Kratochvil will be on the call with play-by-play while Jim Kramer will provide color commentary for the audio feed available online and on local airwaves on WRJN 1400 AM in southeast Wisconsin.

About the Rangers: UW-Parkside (14-2, 7-0 GLVC) remains the lone undefeated team in GLVC play, having won its first seven games in league play for the first time in program history. The Rangers opened the week with a 94-88 victory over No. 23 Lewis behind a career-high 32 points from Colt Grandstaff.

UW-Parkside led 39-37 at the half against the Flyers and never trailed in the second half, owning at least a two-possession lead the final eight minutes of the contest.

Prior to Lewis, the Rangers scored four straight road victories, breezing past Saint Louis foes University of Missouri-Saint Louis (89-76) and Maryville University (84-63) before prevailing in a pair of close contests in Illinois, downing University of Illinois Springfield 94-81 on Jan. 16 and winning 75-71 at McKendree University on Jan. 18.

Five Rangers average in double figures with Zygimantas Rauka leading the way with 16.6 points per game and a team-best 9.1 rebounds per game. The junior forward leads the team in field goal percentage, shooting 64.6 percent from the field while owning 30 of the Rangers' 52 blocks this season. Jimmy Gavin continues to be a threat from the perimeter. Coming off the bench and averaging 14.4 ppg while shooting 46.2 percent from three-point range. Jordan Mach averages 14.1 ppg while Grandstaff and Andy Mazurczak chip in 13.3 and 12.5 ppg, respectively. Mazurczak leads the team in assists with 5.4 on the season and ranks second in the GLVC in that statistical category while Mach leads the league in three-pointers made, draining an average of 3.1 per contest.

UW-Parkside leads the GLVC in assists, dishing out 19.2 per game and rank fifth nationally in the same category. The Rangers sit fourth in the nation in field goal percentage (53.2 percent) while sitting 17th in the nation in scoring margin (+14.0).

Jan. 23 vs. Bellarmine University at DeSimone Gymnasium (Live Stats)(Video)(Audio)

Series History: The Rangers and Knights have met on 32 occasions with Bellarmine owning a 25-7 advantage in the all-time series. The teams split the season series last year with each squad winning inside their home gym. Bellarmine topped UW-Parkside 65-58 on Jan. 17 while the Rangers returned the favor on Feb. 16, claiming the 74-72 victory.

About the Knights: No. 7 Bellarmine (13-2, 5-2 GLVC) won its first 12 games of the season but has since dropped two of its last three-games. The Knights ranked as high as No. 2 in the country before falling 81-79 to then No. 14 University of Indianapolis on Jan. 16 and suffering a 68-66 overtime setback to Southern Indiana on Monday. Sandwiched between the two defeats was a 103-60 pounding of Saint Joseph's College on Jan. 18.

Keisten Jones leads the Knight scoring charge, averaging 16.3 points per game while grabbing 5.5 rebounds per game. Jake Thelan registers 15.6 ppg and a team-best 7.6 rebounds per game while Vance Hall offers 12.1 ppg and 4.8 rpg. Josh Derksen and George Suggs both average a shad under 10 points a game, contributing 9.8 and 9.2 ppg, respectively.

Jan. 25 vs. Southern Indiana at DeSimone Gymnasium (Live Stats)(Video)(Audio)

Series History: UW-Parkside and Southern Indiana have met 36 times with the Screaming Eagles owning a 27-9 edge in the all-time series. The Rangers and Eagles met three times last season with UW-Parkside winning two of those games. UW-Parkside swept the regular season meetings, downing then No. 10 USI 77-68 on Jan. 24 inside DeSimone Gymnasium before stealing a 76-72 overtime win over host Southern Indiana on Feb. 9.

The Screaming Eagles exacted revenge in the GLVC Tournament, downing the GLVC East Division Champion Rangers 81-62 in the semifinals on Mar. 9 at the Ford Center in Evansville, Ind.

About the Screaming Eagles: No. 9 Southern Indiana (14-1, 6-1 GLVC) heads to Lewis University on Thursday riding a three-game win streak. USI's lone defeat this season came on Jan. 11 against defending NCAA Division II National Champion Drury University as the Panthers downed the host Eagles 64-56.

Since then, USI has rattled off three straight, defeating Saint Joseph's (97-78) and UIndy (73-64) before earning a 68-66 overtime win over then No. 2 Bellarmine on Monday night. Gavin Schumann was the hero on Monday, grabbing an offensive rebound and scoring the winning bucket with one second left in overtime.

Aaron Nelson is a one man wrecking crew for USI, leading the Eagles in scoring and rebounding, averaging 20.3 points per game and 14.2 rebounds per game. Schumann contributes 11.1 ppg while Manny Ogunfolu adds 9.9 ppg and 5.3 rpg. Lawrence Thomas boasts 9.7 ppg while Taylor Wischmeier adds 8.8 ppg for the one-loss Eagles.

Home Cooking: UW-Parkside has won 11 of its last 12 GLVC games inside DeSimone Gymnasium. That stretch includes five wins over nationally-ranked opponents and two wins over Top 10 teams.

GLVC in the Top 25: The GLVC has five teams currently ranked in the NABC Division II Top 25 Poll. Defending league champion Drury University leads the way at No. 5, followed by Bellarmine at No. 7 and Southern Indiana at No. 9. UIndy is 16th while Lewis rounds out the league contingent at No. 19. UW-Parkside appears in the others receiving votes section of the poll for the first time this week.

80-Point Club: UW-Parkside heads into Thursday averaging 84.3 points per game and has scored at least 80 points in nine of the 13 regular season games in 2013-2014. 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.

Pod-demonium: The GLVC has broken the two divisions into pods of four for the 2013-2014 season. Pod mates will play each other in a home and home series and play all other opponents once. UW-Parkside's pod includes University of Illinois Springfield, McKendree University and Lewis University.

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 135 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.