Parkside 83, Purdue Northwest 76
The Parkside men's basketball team's offense came to play Thursday night as the Rangers took down Purdue Northwest 83-76 on the road. In the win, four Rangers scored in double-figures, including Rasheed Bello with a career-high 20 points.
 
Parkside moved to 6-8 overall and 3-4 in the GLIAC while PNW fell to 3-12 overall and 0-7 in the GLIAC. The two teams will square off again on Saturday at 3 p.m. in De Simone Arena.
 
HOW IT HAPPENED
The Pride took their largest lead of the entire game using an 8-1 run to open the ball game, but the Rangers battled right back with an 11-0 run of their own. The teams traded the lead back-and-forth the rest of the first half and redshirt-senior Tray Croft hit a go-ahead layup to finish out the first half with a 42-41 Parkside advantage.
 
The Rangers held on to their small lead in the second half until PNW hit a jumper to go up 57-56 with 12:19 to play. That lead didn't last, as Parkside took the lead right back, held onto it, and eventually pushed it to a 7-point game with 3:17 to play. The Rangers never let the Pride back to within one possession the rest of the way.
 
STATWORTHY
Bello scored 14 of his 20 points in the second half, going 6-for-8 from the floor to help Parkside hold on to the lead. Croft finished with 15 points while sophomore Colin O'Rourke had 13 points and redshirt-senior Brandon Hau had 12 points and six rebounds. Redshirt-freshman Jamir Simpson added eight points. 
 
The teams were about even in most stats across the board, with Parkside shooting 50.8% from the floor and PNW finishing at 48.3%. The Rangers went +2 in rebounding and +2 in the turnover battle.
 
WHAT'S NEXT
The Rangers will look to sweep Purdue Northwest on Saturday at 3 p.m. in De Simone Arena. Parkside's game against Northwood that was scheduled for Monday, Jan. 17 has been postponed.