Park University's men's basketball program had a tough night on Claude English Court on Wednesday evening against Benedictine College, suffering defeat to the Ravens 62-53.
Park had a fun time at halftime with a Teddy Bear Toss. All teddy bears were donated to the Southern Platte Fire  Protection District to give to children during emergency response situations. Thank you to all who participated in this year's event.
Park is now 5-5 on the year and 4-2 in the Heart of America Athletic Conference. The Ravens earned a much needed road win in conference play and now stand at 2-3 with a 3-6 regular season record.
The Pirates had won two in a row prior to this loss, but the Ravens seem to have Park's number winning six of the last seven contests.
It was a defensive battle with only 12 points scored total between both teams at a 6-6 tie with 13:29 to go in the game. With only one free throw made between 17:16 and 13:29. After that both teams started to loosen up, starting with
Jasigha Barnes with a two-point bucket to go up 8-6. Both teams would trade three-pointers, including a trey from
Tristan McRoberts to regain the lead 11-9 with 12:03 to go. This would lead to a greater 7-0 run capped off by a
Jacob Barnett jumper for a 15-9 advantage. A 5-0 run ensued for Benedictine only to be answered by back-to-back three-pointers by
Tyler Burrows and Barnett to reach their largest lead of seven points for the game, 21-14. Barnett had another big three-pointer at 5:14 to fend off Benedictine's 4-0 run, but the Ravens would force a turnover and garner some momentum with a 7-0 run to retake the lead 25-24 with 2:21 remaining. Robinson took the lead back for Park with a layup to end the half 26-25.
Benedictine shot 38-percent from the field in the first half, while the Pirates were at an even 30-percent, and both teams drained four three-pointers to stay neck and neck. A 4-0 run to begin the second half gave Benedictine a three-point lead, but Park's
Christian Bradford, Barnes, and Robinson combined for a 6-0 run to get back on track. Like the first half, McRoberts hit big threes when needed, answering a Benedictine three-pointer to grab the lead once again, 35-34 with 14:44 to play. There would be two alternating possessions of scoring for both sides. A 4-0 run by the Ravens gave them another lead, but Barnes hit the deep jumper to tie it up again at 42-42. Up to this point, there were 14 lead changes in the game, but a 7-2 run turned the tables Benedictine's way 49-44 with 7:55 to play. Park would get within two points with a lay-in by Barnett at 5:32, but a three-pointer by the Ravens at 2:25 would them up 58-51 for the eventual nine-point win, 62-53.
Benedictine shot 43.6-percent from the field for the game, surpassing Park's 33.3-percent. Besides the Ravens holding Park below 40-percent from the field for the first time this year, the Pirates were also held to their season low in points.
The numbers from deep were similar at seven-of-22 for the Ravens and six-of-23 for Park. In the same vein, Park and Benedictine were seven-of-12 and seven-of-13 respectively from the free-throw line.
The Ravens had eight more points in the paint and eight more points on fastbreaks than Park.
A big gap could be seen in points from the bench with 18 going to the Ravens and only four for Park.
Barnett would lead Park in scoring with 17 points. Barnes and Robinson were both in double-figures as well with 12 and 10 points, including the near double-double by Robinson with seven rebounds.
Bradford had another great rebounding performance with 13 for the game.
Park will be on the road on Saturday, December 7 in Peru, Nebraska against (RV) Peru State College at 4pm. Â
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