Park University's men's basketball program had was overshadowed in Lamoni, Iowa against Graceland, falling to the Yellowjackets 97-72 on Saturday.

The Yellowjackets are an impressive 16-4 and 13-3 on the year, a remarkable turnaround for the program that was near the bottom of the Heart of America Athletic Conference in the Park's first two seasons in the conference.

At 13-3 and 16-4 overall, Graceland is currently 3^rd in the standings, while Park is 9^th in the Heart with 6-10 and 8-12 of the same.

Graceland was able to get off to a 11-6 lead in the early going. Quickly the Pirates rallied with a jumper by Jasigha Barnes and back-to-back scores by Jaden Robinson, including a slam, to overtake Graceland 14-13 with 12:05 remaining. At this point in the game, Graceland's attempts to get off the blocks in the first half were frustrated by a Pirate standing in the way. Gagi Gvalia did just that to keep his team in the thick of it with a made three at 10:31, 18-17. A 9-0 run for Graceland put them up 10 with 7:37 to go, 28-18. The lead grew and grew for Graceland the rest of the half and they peaked at a 21-point lead in the first half, 52-31.

Two early three-pointers by Graceland put them up by 24 in the first three minutes of the first half, 59-35. A bright spot in the game came at the 12:36 mark, as AJ Watson left his mark on the game with a 6-2 run on a converted and-one and a made three-pointer. Watson went for 20 points on the afternoon, his fourth game to reach 20 or more points this year. This was only one of three three-pointers for Park though as they went three-of-18 from beyond the arc, while Graceland was 11-of-26. Graceland led by as much as 29 points at 13:42 left in the game, putting the contest out of reach for Park. There were only three ties and three lead changes in the game, all in the first half, as Graceland secured the win, 97-72.

Park shot 43.8-percent from the field to Graceland's 55.9-percent.

Graceland was 20-of-25 from the strike, which also dwarfed Park's 13-of-21 of the same.

Both teams had similar ball security, 11 turnoves for Park and 13 for Graceland. The Yellowjackets scored 17 points off turnovers though compared to 11 for Park.

Impressively, 48 points from the bench were divvied out by the Yellowjackets. Park had good bench support in their own right with 19 points from non-starters.

Outside of Watson, Augusto Hausmann, Barnes, and Robinson rounded off the scoring. Hausmann dialed up 14 points on a six-of-10 day, while Barnes and Robinson tallied nine and eight points, respectively.

Besides being the leading scorer, Watson led Park with six rebounds as well.

Additional faces made appearances for the Pirates towards the end of the game, including Markei Hampton with five points, and Ashton Holloway and Trey Main each with five-point days.

Culver-Stockton and Park are neck-and-neck in the standings and they will face off in Canton, Mo. on Monday, January 29 at 7:30pm. WATCH
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