Kenosha, Wis - The Parkside Rangers hosted their final regular season home game of the 2023-24 campaign on Saturday. On senior day, Parkside defeated Purdue Northwest 70-52 with four players scoring in double figures. Nick Brown and Sam DeVault were the seniors represented in their final home game of the season.
Inside the box score:
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Josiah Palmer dropped 19-points with 14 of them coming in the second half. He added eight rebounds, two assists, and two steals.
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Colin O'Rourke notched his 11th straight game with double digits, scoring 17 points with 10 rebounds. It was his first double-double of the season.
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Jack Rose provided 14-points off the bench, hitting acrobatic shots all night long. He added five assists as well.
How it happened:
Even though Parkside led for 33-minutes of the contest, the scoring took its time in the first several minutes of the game. Rokas Castillo began the scoring with a make from beyond the arc, and it would be his only made field goal of the contest. As the first half progressed, Josiah Palmer got Parkside out to an 11-6 lead with his first triple of the night.
Purdue Northwest stuck around and even possessed a two-point lead halfway through the opening half. After being held scoreless in the first 12-minutes of the game, O'Rourke fought his way inside and converted his first two points to tie the game at 13.
On his senior night, Nick Brown continued his monster offensive stretch. In the game he scored 13-points and recorded 11 of them in the first half. As Parkside began to pull away in the first half, Brown added on with a three-pointer that sparked some energy into the team and crowd. Parkside carried a 32-21 advantage into the halftime break.
Parkside came out of the gates rumbling in the second half. Palmer began to heat up as he found his stroke. He had a quick nine-points in the first six-minutes of the second half. In addition to Palmer, both Rose and O'Rourke both notched 10-points of their own in the final 20-minutes. Rose hit the 'shot of the night,' and he pulled up from long range and beat the shot clock buzzer. The momentum shift was inevitable as Parkside came through over and over again. They lead by 17-points with 10-minutes to go.
Defensively, Parkside continued to display their dominance. All season long they have been the best in the conference in that regard. Once again they held a team to under 60-points. O'Rourke came through with two huge blocks in the second half. As a team. Parkside forced Purdue Northwest into 13 turnovers. As the game came to a conclusion, Jake Dunham provided the dagger. He hauled in an offensive rebound in traffic, layed it in, and was fouled. The play sparked a bolt of energy into De Simone Arena and it was enough to propel Parkside to the victory.
Parkside concluded their final regular season home game with a victory at De Simone Arena. They improved to 13-13 overall and 8-8 in GLIAC play. The team remains just one game behind fourth place in the conference.
Up next:
Parkside will hit the road for the final games of the season. They will first take on Ferris State on Thursday, and then Lake Superior State on Saturday. For coverage of the events, visit ParksideRangers.com/coverage.
