Sault Ste. Marie, Mich. --- The Parkside Rangers hit the road on Thursday night, making the long trip to the USA – Canada border to take on the Lake Superior State Lakers. The Rangers controlled the night, defeating the Lakers by a final score of 78-64.
INSIDE THE BOX SCORE
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Jamir Simpson led the offense, finishing with 21 points on 7-14 shooting. He fell just one rebound shy of a double-double.
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Nick Brown and
Colin O'Rourke each scored 12 points, going a combined 7-8 from the field and 8-10 from the free throw line.
- The Rangers out-rebounded Lake Superior State 35-27.
HEAR FROM HEAD COACH Luke Reigel
"That was a quality road win tonight. I loved the way we bounced back after a tough loss on Saturday. We also battled through a lot of adversity as every one of our big men were in foul trouble tonight. Overall, very proud of the effort. Not an easy place to win. Now we hit the road to Ferris."
HOW IT HAPPENED
Seven different players scored for the Rangers in the first half, as Parkside held the lead for all but two of the opening 20 minutes of play. Parkside grabbed the lead for good when
Rasheed Bello drained a three with 15:53 to go in the half. The Bello three started a 19-4 run for Parkside over five minutes giving the Rangers a 24-10 lead.
Sanmi Fajana, Brown,
Josiah Palmer, and Bello all hit threes during the run for Parkside.
The Rangers stretched their lead to 16 with 7:38 to go in the first half when Palmer drained one of his three threes on the night. Lake Superior State was able to knock down a couple of shots late in the half, but Parkside held a 36-27 lead at the half. Parkside shot 52% from the field in the first half while knocking down six threes while holding the Lakers to just 30.4% shooting from the field.
Lake Superior State pulled even closer early in the second half, getting as close as 37-32 with 18:25 to go in the half. Simpson had the answer for Parkside, scoring five straight points to expand the lead back to double-digits. The Rangers had another run in them, going on a 9-0 run over two minutes to expand the lead to 18.
Parkside's lead reached a high point of 72-53 on a Simpson layup with 2:49 to go. The Rangers' defense held strong down the stretch, closing out the 78-64 road win. Simpson scored 16 of his 21 points in the second half. He also pulled down seven rebounds over the final 20 minutes.
With the win, the Rangers improve to 12-4 on the season and 6-1 in GLIAC play. Lake Superior State falls to 5-9 overall and 4-2 in GLIAC play. Parkside returns to action on Saturday afternoon at Ferris State. Opening tip is set for 2:00 pm. Links to coverage, including the live stream through FloSports can be found at ParksideRangers.com/coverage.
