On a Saturday afternoon matchup between the Park University men's basketball team and the Mount Mercy Mustangs, it was strong defense begetting easy offense for the Pirates, and Park used this complementary approach to secure a 79-51 win over the Mustangs.

This win moves the Pirates back over .500 on the season to 9-8 overall and 8-5 in conference play. The Pirates currently sit in fourth place in the Heart Conference with a little over a month remaining until the conference tournament. Mount Mercy now stands at 2-15 on their season and maintains a lone conference win at 1-12. 

The defense started early from the Pirates when Jasiagah Barnes and Tristian McRoberts sent blocked shots spiraling back to the Mustangs on the opening possession of the game. Jamaal Davis flushed down the first Pirates basket of the game shortly after with a sweet alley-oop courtesy of Abubakar Kromah. McRoberts picked up a highlight block for his second rejection of the day on the following Mustangs trip down the floor. The opening minutes included a lot of physicality, but the injury-stricken Mustangs found themselves down 7-0 and later 11-4 with their first basket coming on a buzzer beater from Miles Dear. 

Park was all about the theatrics in the first half, and Christian Bradford had a snazzy spinning three-quarters turn layup to stretch the lead to 15-6 for the Pirates. Just a few minutes later, Gagi Gvalia finished off a strong one hand slam dunk on a steal and fastbreak assist from Shawndale Ross. With nine minutes left in the first half, Ross converted on a wide open shot from deep to stretch the lead to 22-10.

The Mustangs would start to cut into the lead at this point, starting with an up and under finish from Julio Feria, but Park would maintain a significant lead through the end of the half. McRoberts splashed a three-pointer from the left side of the arc with under two minutes left in the opening frame, and the Pirates took their 39-22 lead into the half.

The Pirates shot well in the first half, with a 47.1% field goal percentage and a very impressive 42.9% hit rate from deep. Park also had seven total blocks along with five steals in the first half to highlight their impressive defense. Mount Mercy was stifled in the first half, shooting 25.0% from the field and only converted one out of eight three point attempts. 

Feria started off the second half scoring for the Mustangs with their second three-pointer at that point in the game. The game would stay in a similar flow to the first half until history seemed to repeat itself with about thirteen minutes left in the game. Bradford threw down a slam from Davis, and McRoberts finished off an alley-oop from Kromah. These two plays awakened the Pirate home crowd, and Park was able to coast down the stretch to a home victory.

The Pirates finished the game shooting 43.5% from the field and 4-12 from three point range. Park posted a team double-double with ten blocks and eleven steals. This resulted in the Mustangs shooting 27.0% from the floor over the course of the game.

It was an even spread on the offensive end for Park. Five players finished in double figures for points, and all five of them had a +/- of at least +24. Christian Bradford had a double-double with twelve points and eleven rebounds to complement his highlight reel plays throughout the game. 

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Tristan McRoberts had five blocks in the game and four Pirates had at least two steals apiece. 

Park will head on the road to Des Moines, Iowa for their next game against the Grand View Vikings on Wednesday, January 15. The Vikings currently hold a 5-6 conference record and sit in a three-way tie for seventh place in the conference. Watch Here

Box Score

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