#10 Saginaw Valley State 77, #7 Parkside 72
Parkside men's basketball saw its 2021 season come to an end on Tuesday night at De Simone Gymnasium, as a big second half from the No. 10 seeded Cardinals proved to be the difference against the No. 7 seeded Rangers. SVSU outscored Parkside 44-34 in the second half.
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Senior
Ramar Evans finished with a career-high 24 points and went 5-of-6 from beyond the arc for Parkside, who will finish this season 9-10 overall. SVSU will head to Hammond, Ind., to face top-seeded Wayne State.
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HOW IT HAPPENED
In a back-and-forth first half, the Rangers never trailed and led by as many as 15 points, but SVSU was able to climb back and close the deficit to just five at the break. Parkside used a 17-4 run early in the half to push the lead to double-digits, but the Cardinals ended the half scoring 11 of the final 16 points to make it 38-33 Parkside at the half.
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In the second half, SVSU took its first lead at the 12:43 mark and the teams went back-and-forth until the Cardinals were able to use a triple and a layup with 4:37 to play to go up 63-57. The Rangers kept it close in the end, as Evans was fouled on a 3-pointer and went 2-of-3 at the line, then connected on 3-pointer the next possession to bring it within four points, but SVSU was able to ice it away at the free-throw line the rest of the way.
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STATWORTHY
After Evans' huge games, four other Rangers finished in double-figures, including sophomore
Solomon Oraegbu (16), freshman
Colin O'Rourke (14) and sophomore
Vinson Sigmon Jr. (12). Redshirt-junior
Brandon Hau finished with a team-high eight rebounds.
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The Cardinals' duo of Delano Smith and Myles Belyeu combined for 56 points, as the team finished 47.5% from the floor and 7-of-23 from downtown. The Rangers went +5 in rebounding and -3 in the turnover battle.
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PARKSIDE WOMEN'S BASKETBALL
The women's basketball team won their opening round game before the men tipped off on Tuesday night. They'll face No. 2 seeded Grand Valley State on Thursday, March 4 at 5 p.m. on the campus of Purdue Northwest.
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