KENOSHA, Wis. --- The top-seeded Parkside Rangers fell to the number eight-seeded Michigan Tech Huskies by a final score of 73-68 on Wednesday night in the first round of the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (GLIAC) Tournament inside DeSimone Arena, a place the Rangers had been 14-2 on the season entering the night.
 
INSIDE THE BOX SCORE

• Jamir Simpson led the offense with 21 points on the night, with 12 of his points coming from the free throw line. He also had a team-high eight rebounds.
• Josiah Palmer had 19 points, including two threes.
• Nick Brown was sharp from deep, going 4-5 from behind the three-point arc.
• Parkside must now wait to see if they have done enough to earn an at-large bid into the 2023 NCAA Tournament.

 
HEAR FROM HEAD COACH Luke Reigel
"We just didn't play well enough to win.  I thought they out-coached us and outplayed us. We now must hope things go our way in the conference tournaments around our region. I know we are one of the eight best teams in the region.  We just stubbed our toe tonight."
 
HOW IT HAPPENED
The Rangers struggled to find their offensive rhythm all night long, as Parkside shot just 35.2% from the floor. Parkside found themselves trailing early, as the Huskies raced out to a quick 7-2 lead in the opening minutes.  Following a timeout, Parkside was able to climb their way back into the contest, taking the lead on a corner three from Brown. The Parkside lead reached 12-9 with 11:28 to go in the half, but the Huskies were able to stop the Rangers' run with one of their own.
 
Michigan Tech was able to close the half on a 13-5 run over the final three minutes to open a 37-27 lead at the half. Three different Huskies scored ten points in the opening period, while Parkside was led by Brown with nine points on three threes.
 
The Huskies were able to build on the momentum, extending their advantage to 15 with five straight points to open the second half. Parkside looked to battle back, cutting the Michigan Tech lead to single digits on multiple occasions, but the Rangers were unable to sustain the necessary run to complete the comeback, as they would fall 73-68.
 
Simpson had 17 second-half points for Parkside, with ten of those coming from the free throw line. Palmer scored 14 of his 19 points in the second half.
 
With the loss, the Rangers will now have to wait to see if they will be given one of the at-large bids into the 2023 NCAA Tournament. The full field will be announced on Sunday night, starting at 10:00pm.