Park University's men's basketball program had a midweek matchup with fellow Heart of America Athletic Conference opponent Grand View University, ending in Park's first victory of 2024 in front of their home fans in Breckon Sports Center, 68-66.
Park is now 7-8 and 5-6 in conference play, while the Vikings move to 6-8 and 3-7 of the same.
The first nine points of the game for the Pirates came from the play of
DeMarcus Hudson and
Christian Bradford. Hudson bumped the Pirates up to a four-point lead on a three-pointer by Hudson at 16:09, 9-5. An 8-2 run turned the tide to Vikings, 13-11. A layup and a free-throw on a separate foul gave
Augusto Hausmann three points and then
AJ Watson tacked on another free-throw for a 4-0 run to regain the lead 15-13 at 10:24. It continued to be close in the next exchanges but
Gagi Gvalia boosted the Pirates with a three-pointer at 8:39 for a 20-17 lead.
AJ Watson followed suit with a shot from beyond the arc to bring the Pirates to a four-point lead at 5:47, 23-19. Another set of free-throws by Hudson capped off a 5-0 run for Park, 25-19. The Vikings responded with a 5-0 run of their own to get back within one-point at 4:23 remaining in the half, 25-24. Eventually the Vikings were able to tie at 26-26, but
AJ Watson made an outstanding step back three-pointer to get the crowd fully engaged at the Breck, 29-26 with 3:10 remaining. The Vikings were quick to counter the entire first half though and earned another 7-0 run to take the lead 33-29 with 1:21 to go. Watson and
Jasigha Barnes were able to get a great steal and pass to free up Bradford for an easy transition lay-in with 46 seconds to go. Free throws by the Vikings restored the four-point lead though to end the half, 35-31.
The beginning of the second half was advantage Grand View, as an 8-2 run over a 2:41 period. The Vikings eventually mounted their largest lead of the night of 11 points at the 12:32 mark, 49-38. With under 10 minutes, Park was down nine after a layup by
Eli Habighorst. Habighorst again provided a spark at the 8:09 mark with a three pointer to bring the Pirates within six points, 53-47. Then Hudson scored on the next four offensive possessions for the Pirates to tie the game at 55 with 5:56 remaining. At 3:38 Barnes had a big three-pointer while being fouled to give Park a 60-59 lead. He would not make the free-throw but Habighorst picked up a big offensive rebound which led to a shooting foul on Hudson to extend the lead 62-59. Grand View came back on the other end for a contested layup to bring it within one-point, 62-61 at 3:04 left in the game. Late free-throws by Hudson continued to come in clutch for Park to tack on two points to their lead, 64-61. The Vikings tied it up again at 64 at the 2:08 mark with a three-pointer to heat things up. Each team was on the top of their game at the end, as Hudson and Grand View alternated baskets for a 66 tie at 1:19. Park's hot hand was clearly Hudson in the second half and he continued to deliver with a drive-in layup on the baseline for the go-ahead bucket with 56 seconds remaining, 68-66. Despite two missed free-throws at the end by the Pirates, good defensive stops on the other end held down the Vikings for a Park victory, 68-66.
The Pirates were given a big boost in the second half by Hudson's 20 points, finishing with 28 for the night on 10-of-18 shooting or 55.5-percent from the field. His 28-point performance is a new career-high and did a little of everything for his team tonight with five rebounds, two steals, and two blocks. His Pirate Post-Game interview can be seen below along two of our favorite plays from tonight.
Park and Grand View were similar from the field, Grand View shot 45-percent and the Pirates reached 44-percent.
Park was more of the deep threat than the Vikings though with seven-of-21 makes from beyond the arc compared to only three-of-13 for the Vikings.
Park had two more turnovers compared to Grand View, but the Pirates converted more of those defensive plays into points with 16 points off turnovers, which doubled Grand View's total.
The Vikings held the advantage on bench points with 27, while the Pirates had good production themselves with 14.
It was great team effort across the board with four players scoring seven points, including Watson, Hausmann, Gvalia, and Habighorst. Another two players had six points, Bradford and Barnes.
Rebounds were evenly distributed as well as Bradford led with six, but Hausmann, Barnes, and Hudson each came away with five boards.
Park travels to Culver-Stockton College's house in Canton, Mo. on Saturday, January 13 for a 4pm contest next.
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