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

Official 2014 Deaconess GLVC Tournament Info Page

SOMERS, Wis. (Mar 5, 2014)-- Postseason play begins on Friday evening for the 19th-ranked University of Wisconsin-Parkside men's basketball squad, heading down to the Ford Center in Evansville, Ind., for the 2014 Deaconess Great Lakes Valley Conference Tournament. The second-seeded Rangers will open the tournament in the quarterfinals at 6 p.m. against eighth-seeded University of Missouri-Saint Louis.

The 19th-ranked Rangers and Tritons are the third quarterfinal game of the day on Friday inside the Ford Center with a 6 p.m. tipoff.  Live stats, video and audio will be provided with Mark Albanese on the audio feed available online and on local airwaves on WRJN 1400 AM in southeast Wisconsin.

About the Rangers: 19th-ranked UW-Parkside (22-5, 15-3 GLVC) heads into the tournament as the No. 2 seed after winning the GLVC East Division crown for the second straight season. The Rangers finished the regular season on a three-game win streak, defeating McKendree University (84-80) and University of Illinois Springfield (83-74) inside DeSimone Gymnasium before clinching a share of the East Crown on Feb. 27 with a 76-70 win over then No. 18 Lewis University in Romeoville, Ill.

Against the Flyers, UW-Parkside led 32-26 at the halftime break as Jordan Mach buried a three at the buzzer. The Rangers' lead mushroomed to 13 points in the second stanza but Lewis crawled back into the game, pulling within six with 45 seconds left. Parkside calmly hit its free throws down the stretch to escape Neil Carey Arena with the win, halting the Flyers home win streak at 17 games.

Zygimantas Riauka paced the Rangers with 21 points, hitting seven of his nine attempts from the floor while Jordan Mach hit five threes to finish with 15 points.

On the season, Riauka leads the squad in several statistical categories. The First Team All-GLVC selection leads the Rangers in scoring (16.6 points per game), rebounding (9.2 per game), blocks (51) and field goal percentage (63.8 percent).The junior forward ranks 12th nationally in double-doubles with 14 on the season while sitting 13th nationally in field goal percentage. Second Team All-GLVC honoree Jimmy Gavin has been a spark off the bench all season, averaging 15.9 ppg along with 25 steals while shooting 43 percent from three-point range. 2013 GLVC Freshman of the Year Andy Mazurczak adds 13.1 ppg and 5.3 assists per game while GLVC Second Teamer Colt Grandstaff adds 12.9 ppg. Jordan Mach is the fifth Ranger averaging in double figures, chipping in 12.4 ppg while sinking a team-best 73 treys on the year.

UW-Parkside ranks second in the nation and second in the GLVC in field goal percentage, shooting 52.7 percent from the floor while ranking sixth nationally in assists per game (18.2), seventh in assist to turnover ratio (1.62) and 27th in scoring margin (+10.4).

Series History: The Rangers and Tritons have met 29 times with UW-Parkside enjoying an 18-11 lead in the all-time series. Parkside won last meeting back on Jan. 9 in Saint Louis, leaving the Mark Twain Building with an 89-76 victory. The teams traded leads until a Jimmy Gavin three with 10:02 left gave the visitors the 62-60 lead. UW-Parkside never trailed the rest of the way en route to the 13-point win. Zygimantas Riauka drained 10 of his 13 shots from the floor and piled on 28 points while grabbing 10 rebounds and dishing out five assists. Andy Mazurczak added 19 points while Gavin tallied 12.

Femi John paced UMSL with 19 points with Darian Cartharn adding 17.

About the Tritons: Missouri-Saint Louis (16-11, 9-9 GLVC) advances to GLVC Quarterfinals in Evansville after downing ninth seed Missouri University S&T 103-79 on Sunday. The victory was the Tritons third in a row, a streak that started with an 80-65 win over Truman State University on Feb. 22. UMSL closed the regular season with a 68-66 decision over crosstown rival Maryville University before steamrolling the Miners in the opening round of the GLVC Tournament.

Against S&T, the Tritons were firing on all cylinders, shooting 62.1 percent from the field in the 24-point win. The opening half featured 10 lead changes and three ties before UMSL took a 50-43 advantage to the locker room at half. The Tritons never trailed in the second 20 minutes of play, outscoring the visitors by a 63-36 margin.

Femi John paced the Tritons with 30 points, hitting nine of his 13 shots from the floor while Tylor Wimbish tallied 27 points and eight rebounds.

Wimbish is UMSL's leading scorer, entering Friday averaging 15.2 points per game while John and Darian Cartharn add 13.4 and 10.5 ppg, respectively. Aareon Smith leads the squad on the glass, averaging 5.9 rebounds per game while contributing 9.4 ppg on the offensive end.

UMSL leads the GLVC and sits 27th nationally in three-point field goal percentage, draining 39.6 percent of its chances from beyond the arc. The Tritons rank 10th in assist to turnover ratio (1.56) while checking in at 19th in Division II in assists per game (17.3).

Rest of the Tournament: The winner of Friday's quarterfinal showdown between UW-Parkside and UMSL will face either third seed University of Indianapolis or sixth-seed Bellarmine University. The Greyhounds and Knights battle at 8:30 p.m. on Friday night with the semifinals set for 8:30 p.m. on Saturday. On the other side of the bracket, top-seeded Drury University faces 12th-seeded University of Illinois Springfield at 2:30 p.m. on Friday while fourth-seed Lewis and the University of Southern Indiana kick off the action on Friday with a 12 p.m. tipoff. Illinois Springfield pulled out the lone upset of the opening round, downing fifth-seed Truman State University 78-72. The 2014 GLVC Tournament concludes on Sunday with the championship game slated for 3:30 p.m.

NCAA Division II Tournament: The NCAA selection committee will reveal the 2014 NCAA Division II Tournament bracket on Sunday night at 9:30 p.m. in a live webcast available on NCAA.com. The Rangers have made two trips to the NCAA Tournament (2012-2013 and 2006-2007) and have made six national tournament appearances  overall, having made four consecutive trips to the NAIA Tournament in the 1970s (1977-1978, 1976-1977, 1975-1976, and 1974-1975).

10 in a Row: UW-Parkside's 10-0 mark in January sets a program record for consecutive GLVC wins and surpassing last season's nine-game win streak. The 2012-2013 Rangers rattled off nine in a row last season en route to an East Division title. Last year's run began on Jan. 24 and lasted until Feb. 23. That stretch, saw the Rangers knock off six ranked opponents, including then third-ranked Kentucky Wesleyan College.

Home Cooking: UW-Parkside has won 17 of its last 18 GLVC games inside DeSimone Gymnasium. That stretch includes seven wins over nationally-ranked opponents and four wins over Top 10 teams. The Rangers have additionally won their last 12 games at home.

20-Win Club: The Rangers eclipsed the 20-win barrier for the second consecutive season, marking the first time since 1987 that the program has notched back-to-back 20-win campaigns and the first time since joining NCAA Division II in 1995. UW-Parkside pieced together three in a row from 1984-85 to 1986-87 while the team was a member of the NAIA. The Rangers were 22-7 in 1984-85, 21-9 in 1985-86 and 22-8 in 1986-87.

GLVC in the Top 25: The GLVC continues to boast five teams in the NABC Top 25, including two squads among the Top 10. GLVC West Champion Drury University is ranked fourth nationally while East Division Co-Champion University of Indianapolis is eighth. UW-Parkside jumped five spots to No. 19 with the University of Southern Indiana and Lewis University ranking 20th and 23rd, respectively.

80-Point Club: UW-Parkside heads into Friday averaging 82.9 points per game and has scored at least 80 points in 17 of the 27 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.

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 144 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.