SOMERS, Wis. -- The Wisconsin-Parkside men's basketball team will close out the regular season on Thursday (Feb. 23) when it hosts Lewis in a Great Lakes Valley Conference game beginning at 7:30 p.m. in DeSimone Gymnasium.
The Rangers, who enter the game with a 20-6 overall record and a 12-5 mark in the GLVC, are battling for a top four spot in the conference standings which would ensure a bye in the opening round of the GLVC Tournament. Wisconsin-Parkside is currently tied with Indianapolis in the East Division for third place in the standings, but own the tiebreaker over the Greyhounds due to a season sweep. The tie-breaking rules in the GLVC include teams from both divisions and the Rangers would need a win over Lewis and a Quincy victory over Truman State to secure the No. 4 seed in the tournament, which will begin on Sunday (Feb. 26) at campus sites.
If Truman State defeats Quincy and Wisconsin-Parkside defeats Lewis then the Rangers would fall into a tiebreaker scenario with those two teams to determine the No. 4 seed. A Rangers loss would likely mean hosting a first round game of the GLVC Tournament on Sunday.
Wisconsin-Parkside gained a key road victory on Saturday when it toppled Indianapolis 92-84 behind the play of junior
Kendale McCullum. He recorded a double-double with 20 points and 11 assists in helping the Rangers snap a two-game losing streak. McCullum led five players in double figures in scoring with his 20 points, while
Jake Verhagen finished with 19 points and
Alexander Brown had 17 points.
Goran Zagorac added 12 points and eight rebounds, while
Espen Fjaerestad had 11 points off the bench.
Wisconsin-Parkside, which is 12-1 at home this season, is led by the one-two punch of Brown and McCullum. Brown tops the Rangers averaging 17.4 points per game, while McCullum averages 15.5 points per contest. Verhagen also averages in double figures for Wisconsin-Parkside at 10.7 per game.
Zagorac leads the Rangers shooting 61.6 percent from the floor and also averages a team-leading 6.2 rebounds and 1.2 blocked shots per game.
Lewis, which is 16-11 overall and 11-6 in conference play, has dropped three straight games. The Flyers lost to Quincy at home and then fell in back-to-back road games at Indianapolis and Saint Joseph's.
Miles Simelton leads Lewis averaging 15.7 points per contest, while Delaney Blaylock averages 14.7 points per game and Cristen Wilson is scoring 10.7 points per outing.
Wisconsin-Parkside won the first meeting between the two teams 71-66 on Jan. 16 at Lewis.
Chavares Flanigan scored the final nine points for the Rangers, including a go-ahead layup with 1:09 to play in regulation lifting Wisconsin-Parkside to the victory. Brown finished with 19 points for the Rangers, while McCullum scored 16 points and Flanigan finished with 14 points.
The season finale will also be senior day for the Rangers as Brown and Verhagen will play their final regular season home games in Desimone Gymnasium. The duo will be honored prior to the start of the contest.
