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

Box Score

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. (Feb. 13, 2014)-- In a battle of Great Lakes Valley Conference divisional leaders it was a player who scored just two points that ended up making the biggest impact at the end as a cross-court inbounds play with 2.4 seconds left set up Mael Amenyedzi with the game-winner as second-ranked Drury University edged the 16th-ranked University of Wisconsin-Parkside men's basketball team 54-52 on Thursday night inside the O'Reilly Event Center.

The divisional heavyweights battled back and forth for 40 minutes in a game featuring eight lead changes and seven ties.

UW-Parkside (19-4, 12-2 GLVC) trailed by two with 2.4 seconds left as Andy Mazurczak drew a foul and was sent to the free throw line. The sophomore guard calmly sank both free throws to knot the score at 52. Drury (21-1, 13-1 GLVC) countered with a cross court baseball pass on the inbounds play from Lonnie Boga that found the hands of Amenyedzi. Amenyedzi layed in the winning basket for his only points of the night as the buzzer sounded. Upon review 1.6 ticks were added to the clock but a desperation three by Parkside fell off the mark, giving the hosts their 22nd consecutive home win.

The homestanding Panthers tallied the game's first four points but the Rangers roared back with seven in a row to seize the lead. The two squads traded jabs before UW-Parkside utilized a 10-1 run to stake a seven-point advantage with 4:51 left in the first half. Andy Mazurczak tallied the final four points of the run, including a fast-break score to cap the rally.

Drury answered the bell the final five minutes, as the two squads went into intermission tied at 27.

A Mazurczak layup, a Colt Grandstaff trey and a Zygimantas Riauka layup gave the Rangers the opening seven points of the second stanza. Parkside's lead swelled to a game-high eight points with 15:13 left off a Grandstaff layup. The Ranger advantage reached eight again with 12:57 left with a Mazurczak bucket before the defending national champions fought back.

A Kameron Bundy dunk with 11:25 left closed the gap to 39-37 and the rest of the way was a nip and tuck affair. Drury tied the game for the first time since halftime at 43 with 7:13 left but UW-Parkside quickly built a four-point buffer.

The Panthers battled back and tied the game at 50 with 3:58 remaining on a Bundy three-pointer before seizing the lead off a Wendell Pierre bucket with 2:01 left. The two squads combined for four missed shots and two turnovers over the next one minute and 58 seconds before Mazurczak knotted the score at the charity stripe.

Mazurczak led the Rangers with 18 points, finishing eight-for-nine from the free throw line. Riauka tallied a double-double with 13 points and a team-high 10 boards while Grandstaff added 12. Jimmy Gavin was the only other Ranger to score points, coming off the bench and added nine.

Bundy powered the Panthers with 16 points while Wendell Pierre added 12 points and a game-high 13 rebounds. Cameron Adams added 11 as Drury had 10 players register a bucket.

UW-Parkside limited the GLVC's top three-point shooting squad to just 13.3 percent (two-for-15) from beyond the arc but the Rangers, the nation's number one shooting team, hit just 39.5 percent (17-for-43) from the floor.

16th-ranked UW-Parkside is back in action on Saturday afternoon, squaring off against Missouri University S&T at 3 p.m. in Rolla, Mo.