Park University's men's basketball program came up short against the Wildcats of Culver-Stockton College on the atypical Monday evening matchup. Culver-Stockton made their home game count and outlasted the Pirates, 74-69.

Park has had a hard time on the road in the last two games and not to mention a short turnaround with their game against Graceland on Saturday. Nonetheless, the Pirates are now 6-11 in the Heart of America Athletic Conference and 8-13 on the season, while the Wildcats gain a game on the Pirates in the standings at 7-9 and 9-11 of the same.

The Pirates find themselves in 10^th in the Heart behind Benedictine and Grand View, who is in the 8^th spot.

The Pirates began the game with a 4-0 run scored entirely by Jaden Robinson. Both sides stayed locked in on one another, but AJ Watson's made free-throw and Jasigha Barnes broke up the 11-11 tie with three unanswered points. It got better for Park as a made free-throw by Christian Bradford and a bucket by Gagi Gvalia led to a 6-0 run for a 17-11 lead with 11:22 remaining in the half. At 11:10 Culver-Stockton hit a three to come within three-points, but a sever drought would take place and they would not score again until the 8:20 mark with a free-throw. It was looking up for Park as Robinson showed off a little range with a three-pointer for a seven-point lead at 7:57, 22-15. For each step forward by the Wildcats, Park had the answer, as Watson drained another three-pointer to preserve the seven-point advantage at the 4:09 mark, 29-22. In a flash though, the Wildcats wiped out the lead with a 10-0 run, enough to carry them to a 37-33 halftime lead.

A 4-0 run by Culver-Stockton put them up eight points in the early going of half two, 41-33. Consecutive three-pointers hoisted the Wildcats to a 12-point advantage with 16:19 to go, 47-35. By 11:38, Culver-Stockton established a 16-point lead at 60-44. This would make the come back all the better as Park found themselves down 17 points under 10 minutes, 65-48. The unfathomable happened as the Pirates scored 16 unanswered points to gain their first lead of the half with 2:56 remaining, 68-67.  Within this span, DeMarcus Hudson rattled off six points and Barnes connected with five points, including a crucial converted and-one. Culver-Stockton were able to draw a foul and regain the lead by two free-throws. A costly turnover and foul inside of two minutes by Park allowed for another set of free-throws to be made by the Wildcats to go up by three-points. The Wildcats then elected to foul the Pirates to send Gvalia to the line. He made the front-end to get within two-points but the second attempt was no good. From there, Culver-Stockton hit four additional free-throws to end the game, 74-69.

The Wildcats had the slight edge from the field at 39-percent to 37.1-percent for Park, while three-point numbers were a huge differential at 41.7-percent for Culver-Stockton and only 13-percent for Park. In both of the last two losses, the Pirates only managed to make three three-pointers a game.

Both teams were relatively even at the strike at 62.5-percent for the Pirates and 62.1-percent for Culver-Stockton.

The Pirates had good production from the bench with 22 points, but the Wildcats looked to rotate a lot of different personnel in the game with 44 points off the bench.

Turnovers were balanced by both teams with 15 for Park and 14 for the Wildcats, leading to two more points off turnovers for the Pirates than the Wildcats.

Hudson led the scoring with 15 points and was a perfect six-of-six from the line.

Robinson came to play with 13 points and Barnes found himself in double-figures as well with 12 points.

Bradford and Gvalia were key in multiple aspects of the game with 11 points each and a double-double for Bradford with 10 boards. Gvalia was close to joining Bradford with a double-double on eight rebounds.

Bradford and Watson had a knack for the ball tonight with three steals each. Bradford and Robinson had good timing as well with five combined blocks between them.

Park, after short rest in today's game, gets a break until Saturday, February 3 as they pick up with Mount Mercy University at 2pm. WATCH
Box Score