The Park University men's basketball program traveled to Lamoni, Iowa on Saturday to face No. 25 Graceland University. The Yellowjackets played two offensively sound halves for the 80-62 win.

The Pirates are No. 5 in the Heart of America Athletic Conference at 6-4 and 7-7 of the same, while the Yellowjackets are No. 2 in the Heart at one loss 12-1 and 8-1 in conference play.
A 7-2 run began the game for the Yellowjackets with Jasigha Barnes coming in for a layup at the 17:38 mark to make it 7-4. A 4-0 run by Graceland helped extend the lead, but Jaden Robinson and Barnes both alternated baskets with Graceland to keep in reach at 15-10 with 13:25 to go. Abubakar Kromah helped get Park with a possession with a layup at 12:34, but the Yellowjackets countered with another 4-0 run at the 10:56 mark, 17-12. For every basket, it seemed Graceland had the answer and at three-ball at 7:40 extended the lead to 24-16. This time Shawndale Ross had a big answer for the Pirates with a three-pointer of his own. This tug-of-war went on, until Park's Christian Bradford and Barnes combined for a 5-spot to bring it within one on a Barnes' three-pointer with 2:29 to play, 34-33. Within the last two and a half minutes though, the Yellowjackets steered clear of danger with a 4-0 run to end the half up by five points, 38-33.

The Pirates were 0-4 with a turnover to begin the second half, while Graceland was 4-6, racing to a 9-0 run and led 47-33. Tristan McRoberts made an and-one to get three points back, but the best Park would manage within the first 10 minutes of play was to come within 10 points of the home team. The pace of the game slowed down a bit as only three points were scored for Park from 10:15 to 7:33, all on free-throws. It started to pickup for Park with another pair of free-throws by Kromah followed by a layup by Barnes with 6:29 to play, 63-55. Back-to-back three-point makes by Graceland made things tough for Park and before you knew it they were back to a 12-point advantage, 69-57. The margin widened as the clock dwindled and the Yellowjackets arrived at their largest lead of 18 points with 30 seconds to play, 80-62.

Park shot 39.7-percent from the field compared to 58.5-percent from the Yellowjackets.

Both teams had similar percentages from three-point range, but Graceland had five more three-point makes, nine-of-23 to four-of-11 for Park.

Park got to the line more with 12-of-18 in free-throws, while Graceland was nine-of-13.

Graceland had 13 more rebounds than Park, despite the Pirates doubling the Yellowjackets offensive rebounds with 10. Park made some use of this category with 11 second chance points to only five for Graceland.

Both teams took care of the ball with less than 10 turnovers each. With one less turnover, Park also had three less points off turnovers with four points compared to seven for the Yellowjackets.

The Pirates had 19 bench points with 12 points coming from Raliek Redd. Graceland had a mere four points from their bench.

Barnes led Park with 17 points and was a perfect two-of-two from beyond the arc.

Redd and Robinson were both in double-figures with Robinson two points behind Redd with a 10-point game. This past week's Heart Defensive Player of the Week was also two rebounds away from a double-double with eight boards, including four offensive rebounds.

Kromah had a balanced performance of seven points and six rebounds, and was three-of-four from the free-throw line.

The Pirates will take a break until next year, as they make their return to Breckon Sports Center on Thursday, January 2 at 2pm against Clarke University.  WATCH
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