The Park University men's basketball program held on in Breckon Sports Center with an outstanding Senior Day win over (RV) Graceland University on Saturday, defeating the Yellowjackets 64-61.

Park's nine seniors have left their mark on the program and Saturday it was a pleasure to celebrate Jasigha Barnes, Christian Bradford, Jaden Robinson, Gagi Gvalia, Jacob Barnett, Raliek Redd, Ben Foshee, Nikola Popovic, and Keevon Monroe.

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The Pirates are on a three-game win streak now and are up to 15-10 on the season and 14-7 in the Heart of America Athletic Conference. Graceland has now split with Park on the season and are at 20-4 on the season and 16-4 in conference play.

Park seniors accounted for the first 18 points of the game for Park, starting off with a layup by Bradford and a three-pointer by Barnes. Robinson threw down a dunk and added a layup to give Park a 9-2 run to start the game through the first 4:39 of the game. A 6-1 run by Graceland cut the lead down to just one at 12-11 with 12:17 to play. Gagi and Robinson resumed the scoring for Park to get back to a five-point spread. The Yellowjackets go their first lead of the game at 8:46 , but Gvalia responded quickly with a lay-in to take back a one-point lead, 18-17. Abubakar Kromah got a nice dunk to give Park a 21-17 lead following a takeaway and by Barnes, who also picked up the assist. After a three-pointer by Graceland, the scoring slowed down a bit under six minutes left and Park went on a 5-0 run over three minutes to lead 26-20. Both teams matched one another with a pair of buckets to end the half, with back-to-back scores coming from Kromah before the horn, 30-24.

The lead stayed with Park out of the gate and after a pair of free-throws by Tristan McRoberts and a layup by Barnes, Park led by eight points with 16:47 to play, 38-30. Barnes started to take over with two free-throws and a three-pointer to keep an eight-point lead, 43-35. Barnes struck again at the 12:17 mark with another three to give Park a nine-point lead, 46-37. An and-one by Graceland the next series gave them some life and under 10 minutes, the Yellowjackets were back within four points, 50-46. There was another lull in scoring over the next three minutes, but Graceland did manage a 4-2 run to make it 52-50 at the 5:40 mark. A big three-pointer gave Graceland a brief lead, but Robinson was able to hit a jump shot to regain the lead 56-55 with 3:40 on the board. Another four lead changes would take place in the last four minutes of the game. Two free-throws gave Park three points of separation against Graceland, but another three by the Yellowjackets tied the game at 60 with 1:33 left. Graceland was only able to score one free-throw at the 36 second mark, while Kromah made a layup to take a one-point lead with 22 seconds left. A miss and a foul by Graceland with three seconds left put Kromah at the line, hitting both, to make the game 64-61. Graceland turned the ball over on the in-bound play and Park hung on for the 64-61 win.

The Yellowjackets were held to their season low in points and field-goal percentage. Park shot it at 47.1-percent. Neither team were especially good from deep, six-of-20 for Graceland and three-of-12 for Park. Woes at the line for Park continue with a 13-of-21 day at the line, while Graceland was 13-of-16.

Each team was similar in turnovers, 14 for Graceland and 13 for Park, leading to 19 points off turnovers for Park and 15 for the Yellowjackets.

Graceland had 13 points off the bench, while Park was close by at nine.

In the game, there were eight lead changes.

Kromah led Park with 19 points with seven rebounds. He also was selected as this week's Heart Defensive Player of the Week for his three steals and block as well.

Barnes and Robinson reached double-figures as well with 15 and 10 points, respectively. Robinson was two boards off of a double-double. Barnes was the lone Pirate with three made shots from beyond the arc.

Bradford and Gvalia were near double-figure scoring as well with nine and seven points, respectively.  

Park takes to the road for another big matchup with Central Methodist University at 7:30pm on Thursday, February, 13. WATCH
Box Score