PARKSIDE 68, #6 ASHLAND 61
The duo of redshirt-senior Chavares Flanigan and redshirt-freshman Brandon Trimble were nearly unstoppable Thursday night, especially down the stretch of the Rangers 68-61 win over No. 6 ranked and previously unbeaten Ashland. Flanigan/Trimble scored the final 19 points for the Rangers and had a handful of clutch plays in the final minutes. The Eagles came into DeSimone with a perfect 13-0 overall, 6-0 GLIAC record while the Rangers improved to 6-7 overall, 4-3 in the GLIAC and 5-1 at home. Parkside, who also defeated No. 1 and previously unbeaten Bellarmine last season at DeSimone Gymnasium, is now tied for first place in the GLIAC North with Lake Superior State.
 
HEAR FROM COACH REIGEL
"Our players did a fantastic job of executing our defensive game plan tonight," head coach Luke Reigel said. "They were flying around, forcing turnovers and I couldn't be more proud of them."

We asked them to find another level of toughness to beat a team that's as good as Ashland and they found it, so this is a win that they can be very proud of and we need to use this as a catapult to the rest of the season."

"Flanigan and Trimble stepped up and made huge plays on the offensive end and it was enough; now we have to get ready for a very good Wayne State team."
 
DOWN THE STRETCH
With 2:25 to play in the game, Parkside held a narrow 60-59 lead, but Trimble scored six straight points for the Rangers including a steal and a layup and a pull up jumper to help the Rangers to a 66-61 lead with :21-seconds left. Parkside got a stop on the defensive end and Flanigan put the game away at the free-throw line.
 
FLANIGAN/TRIMBLE
While scoring the final 19 points for Parkside, the duo of Flanigan/Trimble finished 18-for-26 from the floor and 10-for-10 at the free-throw line for 49 points, 10 rebounds, six assists and seven steals. Flanigan had a career-high 25 points and six steals while Trimble had a career-high 24 points and a career-high six rebounds. Ramar Evans finished with eight points.
 
TIGHT GAME THROUGHOUT
There were 11 lead changes and nine times where the score was tied in this game. In the first half, Parkside ripped off a 10-0 run to take a 26-16 lead with 5:36 to play, but Ashland followed that with an 8-0 run to get right back into it. The teams traded 3-pointers in the final 1:17 to end the first half all knotted up 33-33.
 
In the second half, Parkside grabbed a 39-37 lead with 18:04 to play and never trailed again, but the Eagles stayed tough after the Rangers held a 2-to-3 possession lead for most of the second half.
 
TEAM STATS
Thanks to Trimble, Parkside outscored the Eagles 24-0 in bench points and went +6 in the turnover battle. The Rangers shot 50-percent and held Ashland to 41.8-percent and 22.7 from the beyond the arc. The Rangers finished a perfect 12-for-12 from the free-throw line and had 12 steals.
 
WHAT'S NEXT
Parkside will battle Wayne State on Saturday at 3 p.m. following the women's game. Wayne State is coming of an 86-83 overtime loss to Purdue Northwest but won two straight before that.