The Park University men's basketball program has been playing good basketball at Breckon Sports Center and Saturday against William Woods University was no exception with a 88-72 victory.

Park is now 4-0 at home against Heart of America Athletic Conference opponents bringing them up to a 6-6 regular season record and 4-1 Heart record. William Woods is only 4-7 on the season now with a 2-4 conference record in their first Heart season.

The Pirates went above their season average in points of 77 with an 88-spot on the Owls. William Woods began the game with a triple to get things started. Otavio Armani and Mannie Odo both hit a pair of free-throws to get the first Pirate points on the board, and after a William Woods dunk, Clarence King hit a big three to tie it at 7-7. Not long after at the 15 minute mark, King would hit another three to give Park a lead 12-9. It would be a combination of Burrows and King in the next few minutes to extend Park to a 18-14 lead with just under 12 minutes in the half. In the next two minutes a barage of points landed for both sides to create four lead changes, including a three-point make by Mikkel Cintron for a 23-21 Park lead. After a Park timeout, the defense went to work that kept the Owls off the board over the next two and a half minutes. Armani out of the timeout got Park's scoring run started with a tip-in and again hit a jumper for the 27-21 lead. Amaire Perkins then stretched the Park lead to 29-21 with a layup at the 7:52 mark. Perkins would rain down a three to answer a bucket from the Owls and Park was up 32-23 with 6:21 to go. Another big 6-0 run a few minutes later by Perkins and Armani gave Park their largest lead so far in the game at 42-30. William Woods got a three in the final minute and then earned a free-throw in the closing seconds off of a Park technical foul, as both teams went to the locker rooms 42-34. 

It would be Armani with a 5-0 run to get Park off on the right foot in the second half and then Perkins coupled that with a transition lay-in for a 10-point lead, 49-39. It felt like Park had momentum and control in the game off of a monstrous alley-oop to Odo from Burrows for a 51-39 lead with 15:57 remaining. The next possession Perkins then got a three-point play on an and-one to give Park a 14-point lead, 56-42. The pace of the game slowed as fouls put both teams at the line with no made field goals in nearly two minutes. Bayley Crawford broke the silence with a layup to help Park retain a 14-point advantage, 59-45. An 8-1 run by the Owls made things interesting as they found themselves only down seven with over 10 minutes of game left, 60-53. The Pirate response was as good as it could be though with a 13-0 run to then go up 20 with seven minutes left, 73-53. The Pirates squashed any other Owl attempts to get back in the game and Park eased to victory, 88-72.

Park shot an impressive 49-percent from the field and was playing their kind of game from distance at seven-of-16, while the Owls were only at 29-percent from deep at nine-of-31. William Woods got to the line 13 times and made 11 and Park had much more opportunities at 21-of-28 at the free-throw line.

Both teams were close in turnovers at 16 for Park and 14 for the Owls. Surprisingly, the Pirates were able to capitalize on 26 points from turnovers, while the Owls only had 13 of the same. 

Park owned the paint with 46 points to the Owls' 28, and rebounding also favored Park with 14 more than William Woods with 43. 

Park made a living in transition with 21 fastbreak points compared to only two for William Woods. 

Clarence King was the big scorer for Park with 24 points on a three-of-five day from deep. He also contributed six rebounds.

Armani was one rebound shy of a double-double with 18 points off of that and also had multiple threes as a forward. 

Burrows found some open teammates, racking up six assists in the game. 

Perkins was one of two players with multiple steals, including Armani, and he contributed 13 points.

Crawford picked up a 10-point game as well, while Odo with seven points and seven rebounds also earned four assists.

The Pirates are back in Breckon Sports Center on Thursday night at 7:30pm for Chamber Night against (RV) Graceland University. WATCH
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