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

Box Score

SAINT CHARLES, Mo. (Mar. 5, 2016)-- After three straight seasons of heartbreak in the Great Lakes Valley Conference Tournament semifinals the 14th-ranked University of Wisconsin-Parkside men's basketball team finally broke through, utilizing a balanced scoring attack to vanquish Quincy University 93-86 on Saturday night advancing to the GLVC Tournament Title game for the first time in program history.
 
The third-seeded Rangers (24-4) will meet fifth-seeded and arch nemesis Lewis University in Sunday's championship game slated to tipoff at 3:30 p.m. The Flyers punched their ticket after unseating top-seeded Bellarmine University 70-66 earlier in the evening.
 
It wasn't an easy path to the title game for the Rangers, overcoming a 10-point deficit while displaying superior depth down the stretch to collect the win. UW-Parkside trailed by 10 with 16:33 left in the contest before scoring 24 of the next 30 points over the next eight minutes, including 12 straight points to seize an eight-point edge with 8:30 to go. Jake Verhagen served as the catalyst, draining a pair of threes to start the run while a pair of layups from Alexander Brown within a 13-second window tied the game at 57. Brown's layups touched off the 10-0 spurt with Andy Mazurczak capping off the stretch with a pair of free throws for the 65-57 lead.
 
Quincy (20-10) cut the gap to just four on two occasions but the Rangers responded with seven of the next eight to build a 10-point buffer with 4:11 remaining. The Green and White maintained a seven-point cushion the rest of the way en route to the club's 24th win of 2015-2016.
 
A back and forth opening half saw the Hawks take a 39-37 lead into the halftime break. Quincy enjoyed a hot start to the second stanza with 12 of the opening 16 points to claim a 51-41 lead before the Rangers' offense awoke with its 24-6 onslaught.
 
Kendale McCullum paced the Rangers with 17 points while adding seven rebounds, five assists, and four steals. Brown collected 16 points while Verhagen hit four treys and added 14 points. Goran Zagorac finished with 14 points, securing six rebounds and four blocks while Mazurczak netted 12 points and a team-high eight assists. Chavares Flanigan and Kyle Flanagan netted nine and eight points respectively.
 
Herm Senor II led the Hawks with 20 points with Joseph Tagarelli netting the contest's lone double-double with 14 points and 11 boards. Godson Eneogwe added 14 while Evan McGaughey added 13.
 
UW-Parkside shot 53.4 percent (31-for-58) from the field, including an impressive 60 percent clip (18-for-30) in the final 20 minutes. The Rangers dominated the paint with a 54-38 edge in inside scoring while owning a 31-15 gap in bench production in a game with five lead changes and seven ties.