The Park University men's basketball program was in Breckon Sports Center on Wednesday night against the Pioneers of MidAmerica Nazarene University. The Pirates came ready defensively and shot lights out for the 81-71 victory.

Park has won three of their last four in Heart of America Athletic Conference play at 3-1 and bump up to 5-6 on the year. The Pioneers drop to 2-3 in the conference but are over .500 at 7-5 on the year.

The last time these two teams played was in the Heart Conference Quarterfinals, siding with the Pioneers. MidAmerica Nazarene had won the two previous matchups, but these evenly matched programs are now 2-2 against one another in the last four contests.

MidAmerica Nazarene began the game with a 5-0 run over the first minute and a half, but four points from Amaire Perkins and another layup by Otavio Armani took back the lead for Park with 17:17 on the clock, 6-5. The scoring slowed down with good defense on display and over the next five minutes only three fieldgoals were made, all by Park. MidAmerica Nazarene was only held to free-throws in that span, as Tristan McRoberts' layup put Park up 15-9 at 12:05. The Pioneers made their only three-pointer of the half at the 10:43 mark to come within three points of Park, 17-14. McRoberts went on his own 5-0 run with a made three as well to push the lead up to eight, 22-14. After a layup by MidAmerica Nazarene, McRoberts would hit another three ball for a nine-point advantage with 8:22 in the half, 25-16. A huge moment in the game was a 7-0 run by Park, compliments of Tyler Burrows and Bayley Crawford, which included another Pirate three by Burrows, 32-18. MidAmerica Nazarene inside five minutes rallied a bit offensively with eight points, but Park's Perkins and Burrows hit another pair of three-pointers for a 12-point halftime lead, 38-26. 

In the second half, Park came out firing with a 12-0 run over the first four minutes to extend the lead to 24, 50-26. The Pioneers had a much better shooting half in the final 15 minutes, including four made threes leading into the 11:16 mark but still trailing 59-41. A heads up play by Armani led to an intercepted pass and transition dunk to retain a 20-point lead, 61-41. The Pioneers did not let up, but Park played well thoughout the contest with more threes from King and Perkins to maintain a 17-point lead with 6:51 to go, 69-52. A 9-0 run in the next three and a half minutes for the Pioneers once again put the pressure on Park in a 10-point game, but an answer by Armani got Park back to a 12-point lead, 73-61. The one Park turnover in the last moments of the game did not hurt them and a dunk by Crawford with just over a minute left just about sealed it at 75-64. Armani, King, and Burrows then put the finishing touches on the game for an 81-71 victory.

The Pioneers were eight-of-18 from deep in the second half, while Park was nearly at 60-percent from range at four-of-seven. For the game Park shot 49-percent to MidAmerica Nazarene's 40-percent. 

Both teams had nine made threes, while Park was at 45-percent from deep and the Pioneers were at 31-percent.

Not a lot of free-throws were taken in this contest, only 12-of-18 for the Pioneers and six-of-nine for Park.

The Pioneers got up to 18 turnovers in the game, six more than Park. The Pirates used the opportunity to score 21 points off turnovers compared to only 12 for the Pioneers. 

Shockingly, over half of MidAmerica Nazarene's points came from the bench with 40 for the game, but with only one lead change, the Pirates were in control for nearly the full 40 minutes. 

Perkins had a career night with 16 points and was three-of-four from deep. Four more Pirates were contributing double-digit scoring, including Armani, Burrows, King, and McRoberts. 

Armani had 15 points on six boards and four steals, while King was also a defensive menace with five steals on 14 points and five assists.

Burrows went for 14 points on the game and matched McRoberts with a two-of-three night from deep. McRoberts scored 12 points and had six rebounds with three assists.

Crawford did good things to help the team with five boards and four assists.

Park is moving on to William Woods University on Saturday, December 6 at 4pm in Breckon Sports Center. WATCH
BOX SCORE