The Park University men's basketball program play tough on the road in Oskaloosa, Iowa against William Penn University, defeating the Statesmen on Saturday 84-75.  

With their third win in a row, the Pirates stay at No. 4 in the Heart of America Athletic Conference, moving to 11-8 on the season and 10-5 in the Heart. William Penn is the next team under Park at 9-8 and 6-7 in conference play for the No. 5 spot.

It would be a couple of possessions by both teams before a score was registered on Saturday, but Abubakar Kromah got the opening bucket at 18:45. The Statesmen responded with a 5-0 run to gain the lead, but Tristan McRoberts hung in their for an and-one jump shot to tie the game 5-5. The Statesmen had another good response with a 6-0 run to go up 11-5 at the 14:37 mark. Park's two bigs went to work, as Christian Bradford and Jaden Robinson combined for a 6-0 run to knot things up at 13-13. A little over a minute later William Penn threw another punch with a 4-0 run, only to be answered by a Raliek Redd three-pointer and a Shawndale Ross trey to regain the lead for Park with under 10 minutes left, 19-17. Two more lead changes would happen, but Kromah had back-to-back scores and Redd made another big three-pointer to take a six-point lead, 26-20. Ross tacked on another layup and Park gained its largest lead of the first half up to this point at 28-20. As the half winded down, William Penn caught a second wind and was able to tie the game 32-32. At this point the Statesmen were introduced to a senior Pirates, Jasigha Barnes, who scored four points to end the half and put his team out front 36-32.

Both teams traded off three-pointers to begin the second half, including a shot from deep from Gagi Gvalia. A layup and dunk by Kromah helped Park back to a 43-38 lead. Both teams showed they could score in a hurry, but once again it was Kromah to give Park a 4-0 run to lead 51-44 with 14 minutes to play. Everything that the Statesmen threw at Park, the Pirates seemed to have the answer as a Statesmen three-pointer brought the game within four points, 52-48, but Kromah and Ross went off for a 7-0 run to extend the lead to nine. Ross had a big and-one to get to that 57-48 lead at 11:52. The Pirates held William Penn without any major runs for the next several minutes and Redd's jumper at 7:04 increased the Park lead to 10, 66-56. Park did not make mistakes to give William Penn opportunities to make a comeback and the Pirates hit free-throws to seal the win, 84-75.
Park and William Penn nearly shot an identical number from the field, 38-percent for Park and 37.7-percent for William Penn. The three-point field-goals favored William Penn at 11-of-34 compared to four-of-19 for Park.

At the line, the Pirates went to town though at 21-of-28 compared to only six-of-eight for William Penn. The same percentage of 75-percent, but undoubtedly foul trouble also hurt the Statesmen as the game unfolded.

The Pirates stayed under 10 turnovers at eight, while 12 turnovers were recorded by William Penn.

Points of turnovers and second chance points were both three-point advantages for Park, but how about 44 points off the bench for Park compared to 20 for William Penn.

Overall there were four lead changes and three ties, all coming in the first half.

Kromah had 25 points on the day, upping his average to 11.6 points per game, but when you just think about the last five games since the new year, Kromah is averaging 18.6 points per game.

With 12 rebounds and four assists, Kromah also earned himself a double-double.

Redd, the first year transfer from William Penn, showed out with 18 points. And outside of Kromah, the majority of Park's scoring came from the bench, nine points from Gvalia, and a pair of eight-point games from Robinson and Ross.

Redd had a healthy three assists in the game, while Gvalia had a nice defensive performance with 13 rebounds, three steals, and two blocks.

Park and No. 8 Baker will battle on Wednesday evening in Breckon Sports Center at 7:30pm. WATCH
Box Score