Park University's men's basketball program was downed on the road against Mount Mercy University on Saturday, suffering defeat 90-76.  

The Pirates drop below .500 at 4-5 on the year and are now 2-3 in the Heart of America Athletic Conference. Mount Mercy joins Park at 2-3 in conference play and are rebounding after a slow start of 2-6 on the season.

90 points in the game, brought on by a 46-point second half by the Mustangs, is the most points Park has allowed this season.

Fireworks were going off early for Park as Savian Edwards and AJ Watson both scorched three-point shots for a 6-0 start to the game. A Jaden Robinson layup continued the attack, giving Park an 8-1 lead. A separate 5-0 run off of another Watson three and two made free-throws by Augusto Hausmann moved Park to an eight-point lead, 13-5. Mount Mercy responded though with a 9-0 run to overtake Park, 14-13 at 12:39. It was a 3:43 long drought for the Pirates, which was ended on a DeMarcus Hudson three-pointer. It began to get interesting as Mount Mercy hit an immediate three-pointer to go back up by one, 17-16. In fact, six lead changes would take place from 12:31 to 6:30, as Mount Mercy took a 29-28 lead on a pair of free-throws. Over the next few minutes, an 11-3 run by Mount Mercy would force Park timeout with 3:26 remaining in the first half, 40-31. Down 43-31 Park got back into things with an 8-1 run to close out the half, 44-39.

An and-one to begin the second half by Robinson brought it within two points and after a Mount Mercy free-throw and another Robinson layup, the score was just 45-44. Through the first 2:11 of the second half, Robinson was busy with all nine of Park's points to begin the period. It remained close after some back and forth with a score of 53-50, but a technical foul called on Park gave the Mustangs a big opportunity to create some space, which is what they did with a 7-0 run to lead 60-50 at 15:13. The Mustangs continued to fire it from deep with a three-pointer out of a full Pirate timeout at 14:12. The shot was the start of a 5-0 run that lasted to 11:40, 67-54. This all culminated to the largest lead of the day for the Mustangs of 18 points at 9:11 on the clock. At this point, the margin was to great to comeback from the final score was 90-76.

The Pirates shot a good clip from beyond the arc of seven-of-15 for 46-.7-percent, but the Mustangs had a hot day of their own at 11-of-21 for 52.4-percent.

In all, Mount Mercy shot 58-percent from the floor to Park's 45.5-percent.

Mount Mercy had 12 more points than the Pirates from the free-throw line and more than double the opportunities from the strike. Both teams were similar from the line at 60-percent for Park and 63.6-percent for the Mustangs.

Park had 19 turnovers to Mount Mercy's 18, but the Mustangs translated that into seven more points off those turnovers than Park, 27 to 20.

Park did most their work in the paint with 18 more points in the lane than Mount Mercy, 40 to 22. The Pirates also held the advantage in second chance points with 18 to the Mustangs' seven.

Hausmann had a solid day with a double-double on 14 points and 10 rebounds, while Robinson scored Park's game-high of 15 points.

Also in double-figures in scoring was Hudson with 12 points and led Park with three steals as well.

Eli Habighorst put his best foot forward with a new career-high of eight points and his second most assists of his career with five today.

Christian Bradford worked hard down low with eight rebounds and contributed six points.

Park has until Wednesday to prepare for Missouri Valley on December 6 at 7:30pm inside Breckon Sports Center. WATCH
Box Score