Park University's men's basketball program put up a great opening performance in Heart of America Athletic Conference play against the Vikings of Grand View on Wednesday, defeating the road challenger 76-58 in Breckon Sports Center.

Park and Grand View are now 2-3 on the year, but the Pirates take the conference opener 1-0 while Grand View moves to 0-1 in the Heart.

Grand View led 5-4 at 15:24 in the opening minutes, but Jasigha Barnes put Park on top with a pair of free-throws 6-5. This would be the start of a greater 7-0 run with Christian Bradford contributing free-throws and a three-pointer coming from Barnes. Park continued to impose themselves on the Vikings, climbing to a 10-point advantage after a turnover and a free-throw hit by Abubakar Kromah, 18-8 with 8:24 on the clock. The Pirates had six first half steals, leading to 11 first half turnovers for Grand View; meanwhile, the Pirates took care of the rock with only two turnovers in the half. After a free-throw for Grand View, Barnes had a two-point jumper followed by a steal and transition dunk by Kromah for a 22-9 lead. Park led by as much as 18 in the half, but a well-executed three-point basket from Shawndale Ross helped lift his team to a 16-poin lead, 25-9. With 2:08 remaining in the half, a 7-1 run by Park put them in a great position, 38-20.

Park came out still in control in the second half and eventually climbed to their largest lead of 28 points by the 12:26 mark. It came about by a 12-4 run that spanned 18:47 to 15:56 on the clock, and it all got started by a Bradford slam. After Barnes' layup to cap off the run, it would be another 2:08 before the Vikings would score, which was part of a bigger Grand View scoring drought that went back to 16:54 in the second half. With the Pirates shooting at 50-percent or higher in both halves, there would be no comeback as Park took this game with ease, 76-58.

The Vikings were only 34.9-percent from the field and five-of-24 from beyond the arc, while the Pirates had the same number of makes deep but had the better percentage at 35.-7-percent, or five-of-14.

Neither team shot especially well from the stripe, nine-of-17 for Grand View and Park was 11-of-20 in their free-throw attempts.

Grand View outrebounded Park 42 to 32, but for the game the Vikings had eight more turnovers, leading to 22 points off turnovers for the Pirates, while the Vikings did not have any points off Pirate turnovers.

Jacob Barnett and Barnes led Park with 15-point performances.

Tristan McRoberts and Bradford nearly crossed into double-figures with eight and nine points, respectively.

Meanwhile, Kromah and Ross had 11 and 10 points from the bench.

It was a mixed rebounding effort with three different Pirates with five rebounds each.

Barnes showed he could help his teammates find the rim as well with six assists for the senior.

Park and the Mustangs of Mount Mercy will continue with Heart play on Saturday, November 16 at 2pm in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. WATCH
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