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

Box Score

ROLLA, Mo. (Feb. 15, 2014)-- Posting its highest scoring output of the season was not enough to avoid heartbreak as the 16th-ranked University of Wisconsin-Parkside men's basketball squad squandered a 17-point first half advantage on Saturday at Billy Key Court, suffering a 103-101 setback to Great Lakes Valley Conference foe Missouri University S&T.

Five Rangers (19-5, 12-3 GLVC) finished in double figures and nine UW-Parkside players tallied at least a point as the Rangers netted their highest output of the season just two days removed from its lowest scoring output of the year.

A three at the buzzer for UW-Parkside looked destined to go in for the win before lipping out as the host Miners (10-13, 5-10 GLVC) held on for the win.

Despite leading by as many as 17, UW-Parkside was staring at a four-point hole with just 23 seconds left. Jimmy Gavin sunk a pair of free throws to knife the gap to just two with 13 seconds left before Colt Grandstaff tied the game two seconds later, intercepting the S&T inbounds pass and scoring to net the game at 101. A quick foul put Bryce Foster on the line with 10 ticks left. Foster drained both before the Parkside potential game-winner bounced out of the cylinder, sending the Rangers their second consecutive loss.

Mohamed Mohamed tallied the game's opening four points as the Rangers led wire-to-wire in the first half. An Andis Malahovskis bucket with 11:16 left gave UW-Parkside its first double digit buffer of the day at 26-15. A Zygimantas Riauka basket with 7:46 left in the opening half gave the visitors its largest advantage at 17 points and was matched again 2ith 7:21 left off an Andy Mazurczak layup.

Missouri S&T refused to surrender, collecting 20 of the next 28 to close within five at 45-40. Parkside mushroomed its lead back to 10 with 62 seconds left off a pair of Gregory Smith free throws but the Miners ended the half with five straight to head into the locker room down just 50-45.

Back-to-back-to-back threes to begin the second half helped S&T build an early four-point edge as the wild second half featured 11 lead changes and eight ties. The Miners built a seven-point edge with 3:01 left before the Ranger fought back eventually tying the game at 95 with 1:44 remaining. S&T rebuilt a four-point advantage with 74 seconds left and again with 23 ticks left.

Jimmy Gavin came off the bench and paced all scorers with 28 points, burying six of the Rangers' 12 threes on the afternoon. Mohamed added 17 points, finishing a perfect seven-for-seven from the field while Riauka tallied a double-double with 16 points and 10 boards, Mazurczak added 14 points, eight assists and six rebounds while Grandstaff added 13, hitting three treys on the day.

Six Miners finished in double figures with Michael Nesbitt leading the way with 21 points and eight boards. Mudi Eruteya added 19 and nine assists while Bryce Foster and Nusrath Khan added 17 apiece. Aaron Emmanuel was the sixth man in double figures, registering 16 points.

Both squads lit it up from beyond the arc, combining for 23 threes on just 40 attempts. UW-Parkside shot 62.1 percent (18-for-29) from the floor in the first half and finished the game shooting 54.7 percent (35-for-64) while canning 66.7 percent (12-for-18) from the perimeter. S&T shot 55.2 percent (32-for-58) for the game, including a scorching 64.5 percent (20-for-31) in the second stanza. The Miners were eight-for-12 (66.7 percent) from three-point range in the second half and shot 50 percent (11-for-22) for the game.

16th-ranked UW-Parkside returns to DeSimone Gymnasium next Thursday, hosting McKendree University at 7:30 p.m. to begin  the squad's final homestand of 2013-2014.