The Park University men's basketball program was on the road on Wednesday evening with Heart of America Athletic Conference opponent Missouri Valley College in Marshall, Mo. The Vikings overcame Park late in the first half and stayed out front in the second half for the win, 76-61.

Park holds the No. 4 spot in the Heart of America Athletic Conference with a 7-5 conference record an and even 8-8 on the year. The Vikings improve to 4-7 in the Heart and 5-10 on the regular season.

The Vikings started off with the lead and in the first half the lead would be exchanged four times; the only lead changes of the game. Tristan McRoberts and Abubakar Kromah would get back-to-back makes for Park's first lead at 15:57, 8-7. The game would stay within a possession or two for the next several minutes, but the Pirates would earn their largest lead of four points on a layup by Kromah and then a jumper by Jasigha Barnes with 14:42 to play in the half, 12-8. A 5-0 run for the Vikings would be met by a three-pointer by Kromah to reinstate a 15-13 lead for Park. Missouri Valley quickly tacked on a score to tie and then the score would be knotted at 15 for nearly two minutes before the Vikings hit a jumper for the final lead change 17-15. A 10-2 run aided by two three-pointers boosted the Vikings to a 25-17 lead with 8:30 remaining. Park faced a nine-point deficit at 6:08, to which Raliek Redd and Kromah rallied the troops with a 6-0 run to make it 28-25 with 4:13 left. Missouri Valley deflected the Park run with a 13-4 run of their own with an additional three three-pointers to end the half, 41-29. Missouri Valley could feel it from deep in the first half at eight-of-15 compared to only one-of-nine for the Pirates.

Three-point shooting calmed down for Missouri Valley in the second half at two-of-eight, but the Pirates shots from beyond the arc would not go down either at zero-for-nine. The lead would stay in double-figures out of the gate and Redd supplied a big and-one to bring the deficit within 12 with 14;49 to go, 52-40. Park turned on the defense near the 13 minute mark with back-to-back steals by Kromah and Gagi Gvalia for a layup and a pair of free-throws by Kromah to come within 10 at 12:35. Kromah and Gvalia would come up again soon for a 4-0 run, including a offensive board and put-back by Gavalia to make it 56-48 with 10:07 to play. A 10-2 run by Missouri Valley may have been the final straw though as Park would not come within single-digits of the lead the rest of the game. Missouri Valley grew their lead to 17 with under three minutes to play, as the final buzzer decided the game, 76-61.

Missouri Valley shot 47.5-percent from the field compared to Park's 32.8-percent, while the three-point shot comparison was night and day 10-of-23 for the Vikings and one-of-18 for Park.

A similar gap showed up at the line, as Park was 20-of-27 in free-throws and Missouri Valley was only eight-of-11.

Missouri Valley had two more turnovers than Park with three extra points off of those turnovers. The Vikings also had three more second chance points than Park with 18 to Park's 15.

The lineup looked to have more depth for Missouri Valley with 20 more bench points than Park.  

Kromah was leaned upon heavily with a season-high for the forward from Bronx, N.Y. of 30 points. He was just under double-double numbers with nine rebounds, and he padded his defensive numbers with four steals.

Also just shy of a double-double was the second highest scorer for Park in Christian Bradford on nine points and 11 rebounds.

On his first start of the season, Redd contributed a team-leading five assists and put up five points.

The Pirates are home for their next Heart matchup with Mount Mercy University on Saturday, January 11 at 2pm in Breckon Sports Center.  WATCH
Box Score