Park University's men's basketball program battled with Missouri Valley College on Wednesday night, falling to the Vikings in what turned into a close game in the last moments, 74-69.

Park and the Vikings had one prior meeting this year at the beginning of Heart of America Athletic Conference play, and the Pirates emerged victorious on the road in a double-overtime thriller, 95-92.

The Pirates are currently on a 12-game losing streak with eight of those games being decided by less than 10 points. Park is 5-19 and 3-16 in the Heart, while the Vikings are 8-16 and 6-12 in conference play.

This game was only tied twice and there was only one lead change that occurred at 14:44 for the Vikings. Missouri Valley would stay out front of Park the remainder of the game.

It was 14-13 at 9:53, but this would be the start of a 15-2 run that would last until 4:02 in the first half. The Vikings were in a favorable 41-29 position at halftime.

Missouri Valley edged Park in most shooting categories in half one, including 44.1-percent from the field, two more made three-pointers, and four more made free-throws. Park also had eight first half turnovers compared to the Vikings' three.

A seven unanswered points started the second half for the Vikings, helping them to their largest lead of 21 points at 10:24 in the second half.

DeMarcus Hudson and company never gave up in this game, as he scored eight points in the next four minutes. Park began to gain ground and cut the deficit down to just nine at the 6:04 mark, 62-53.

With five minutes left, Park made another great run at the Vikings with a 10-1 scoring spree. Drew Kroft, Lucas Kroft, and Augusto Hausmann all were major players in closing the gap to four points at 2:56, 66-62.

Park was within one point of the Vikings after Drew's layup, making the score 70-69 with 36 seconds to go. Missouri Valley always seemed to have a response and did not do anything careless to give Park extra opportunities as they went on to win, 74-69.

Five Pirates were in double-figures on the night. Drew led all Pirate scorers with 16 points on five-of-18 from the field, including three-of-13 from beyond the arc. There was great balance in the lineup with Lucas and Hausmann each scoring 13, while Hudson and Rhodes were close behind with 11 and 10 points.

Rhodes will be one of three Pirates recognized next Wednesday, February 15 for men's basketball senior night at 7:30pm and he tied his career-high in points with 10. It was another milestone for Rhodes as he obtained his first double-double as a Pirate with an even 10 boards.

Rhodes and Leon Kalinc were beasts off of the offensive glass with four offensive rebounds each. Kalinic had a respectable night with eight rebounds, six points, and three assists.
Hausmann was close to a double-double, but was one rebound shy with nine on the evening.

Hudson and Drew each had three assists as well.

Both teams had 14 makes at the strike, but the Vikings were at 73.7-percent to Park's 63.6-percent.

The Vikings were cold from three-point range in the second half with only one three-pointer made in the second half. Park did not have much better luck though and only had two made three-pointers in half two.

Missouri Valley had the slight advantage in field goal percentage, shooting 42.2-percent to Park's 41-percent.

Park had the advantage in turnovers in the second half with only five, while Missouri Valley had eight. By the end of the game the turnovers were relatively even, as were the points off turnovers. Missouri Valley had 14 points off turnovers, while Park scored 11.

Transition buckets favored the Vikings with 14 fastbreak points compared to six for the Pirates.

The Vikings also had eight more bench points, 25 to Park's 17.

Park will travel to Canton, Mo. on Saturday, February 11 to face Culver-Stockton College at 4pm. Watch the live-action here.
Box Score