Park University's men's basketball program had a tough matchup with William Penn University on Saturday and even with a lead at half, William Penn came back for the 79-72 win.

Park moves to .500 on the year at 3-3 and also even in the Heart of America Athletic Conference at 1-1, while the Statesmen move to 2-5 and 1-2 in the Heart.

DeMarcus Hudson gave Park an outstanding start with nine points in the first 3:05 of the game to give Park an 11-2 lead. Park went took a 10-point lead on an AJ Watson layup at 15-5. Another round of baskets were exchanged but from 12:59 to 9:25 Park went scoreless to allow William Penn bring it with 4 points at 17-13. Park was able to kick it back into gear and gained more separation, which reached 14 points at 34-20 off of a 5-0 run by Park on a Christian Bradford tip-in and a Savian Edwards three-pointer. Park was able to build up its largest lead of the game of 16 points at the minute mark in the first half and led 38-22. At the half Park led 38-25. Park shot 35-percent in the first half compared to only 25.9-percent by William Penn. Neither team shot a high percentage from beyond the arc, but two three-pointers went down for Park to William Penn's one. Hudson was a huge presence in the first half with 13 points and great defense all night to get easy transition buckets.

In the second half, William Penn hit much better from deep and was six-of-14 from distance to just two-of-10 by Park. A 7-0 run by the Statesmen cut the lead to only six at 40-34 with 16:58 to go, forcing Coach Jason Kline to call timeout. The Statesmen kept chipping away though and a 5-0 run put them in a competitive position at 42-39. Each Pirate basket seemed to have a William Penn response. A technical foul on Hudson led to a four-point swing on two made free-throws and layup to bring it to a 44-43 game. A minute and a half later, William Penn earned their first lead of the game and then went on a 5-2 run for a 53-48 lead with 10:32 remaining. Edwards hit a three-pointer to get the game back within two points at 53-51. Edwards had a phenomenal night with 22 points and was the leading scorer from Park's bench. It remained tight, but Park would not be able to break through to reclaim the lead. The best that Park would do would be to tie the game at 63 a 5:06. No one would score for a little over a minute and a half before the Statesmen hit a three-pointer for the 66-63 lead. William Penn hit to free throws for a five-point lead at 70-65, but two back-to-back technical fouls by Park's Augusto Hausmann and Coach Kline led to three more made free-throws by William Penn for an 8-point lead with less than two minutes to go at 73-65. This was a huge change of events that put a comeback out of reach for Park, as William Penn secured the win, 79-72.

A 54-point second half by William Penn overshadowed the 34-point second half by Park. For the game, William Penn shot 40-percent from the field, while Park shot 36.6-percent.

It was the largest difference in free-throws in recent memory between two teams, as second half free-throws heavily favored William Penn. The Statesmen were 14-of-21 in the second half from the strike, while Park was 0-of-10. To make it harder to believe, Park was eight-of-nine from the line in the first half. In total, William Penn was 24-of-42 from the free-throw line.

Hudson was second in scoring with 16 points and had a balanced four steals and five rebounds.

Robinson had a good night with 10 points on five-of-eight shooting.

Bradford was a great asset downlow with nine rebounds, including an impressive six offensive rebounds.

Watson demonstrated his court awareness with eight assists in the game.

The Pirates had a big advantage in possessions with only nine turnovers compared to William Penn's 23 turnovers. This led to 25 points off turnovers for Park to 12 points of the same for the Statesmen.

Park has a tough road ahead in their next matchup with No. 12 MidAmerica Nazarene University on Tuesday, November 21 at 7:30pm.  WATCH

Box Score