The Park University men's basketball program was back in Breckon Sports Center with a Wednesday night matchup with Grand View University. The Pirates played balanced, team basketball for two halves and defeated the Vikings, 82-76.

Park is now 8-9 on the year with a 5-4 Heart of America Athletic Conference record, while the Vikings drop to 11-6 and 6-4 in conference play.

For Park, they are sitting right at No. 8 in the conference right now, but with a lot of basketball still to be played, eight of the top nine teams are still just within 1.5 games in the standings.

This was an exciting contest with nine lead changes in the game and six ties. The Vikings got to their biggest lead of five points five minutes into the game with a 6-2 run via three-pointers, 17-12. Tristan McRoberts put together a good game and had two and-ones in the first half, including a converted and-one at the 14:10 mark to make it 17-15. Otavio Armani hit a three at 12:30 to keep Park in the hunt and then Amarie Perkins finished a layup at 11:59, assisted by Armani, for the tie, 20-20. Mikkel Cintron made an impact to answer a Viking three with a trey of his own as we were tied again 28-28 with 8:39 to play in the half. The turning point in the building was a steal and transition, and-one dunk by Armani that gave Park the lead, 33-30. Back-to-back jumpers by Tristan McRoberts and then another triple by Cintron gave Park a 48-41 lead a the half. 

Park never relenquished the lead in the second half and the eight made threes by the Vikings in the first half, cooled off to only two-of-seven from distance in the second half. AFter 16:16 to 12:54 on the clock Grand View was held without a field-goal, which paved the way for a 5-0 run for Park off of a Perkins three and an Armani lay-up for a 61-48 lead. An and-one by Bayley Crawford and a jumper by McRoberts got Park to its largest lead of 16-points with 11:13 to play. As the game went along, Park did enough to keep the Vikings at bay, including another nice answer from beyond the arc by Brett Smith after a Grand View three-pointer at 9:10. A 9-0 run made this an interesting finish at the end, as Grand View krept back into the picture and finally at the 3:04 mark a three-pointer by Grand View brought the game to 76-70. It was an important bucket by Armani at 1:37 to get Park to an eight-point lead, 78-70, as the Vikings three turnovers in the final minute and a half. It only led to four points though, making it a 78-74 game, and after a turnover by the Vikings, Crawford and Odo made all four of their free-throws to seal the game at 82-76.

Park was shooting an excellent 48-percent from the field compared to 37-percent by Grand View. The Vikings finished the game with a respectable 10-of-25 from beyond the arc, but the Pirates owned the paint with 42 points compared to just 28 for Grand View. Park from deep was not rivetting by any means, but hit three shots from beyond the arc each half for a six-of-25 night. Both teams were an equal 62-percent from the free-throw line, but the Vikings left more points on the table at 18-of-29 compared to 10-of-16 for Park.

Both teams had seven turnovers for the game and Park had a slight advantage with 13 points off turnovers compared to 11 for the Vikings. Grand View got double the production from their bench with 26 points, but four Pirate starters in double-figures took care of business. Overall five Pirates got into double-digit scoring, as Cintron contributed his season-high of 10 points.

McRoberts got 20 points on the night with his career-high, but he also found the openings with five assists on the floor.

Armani got a double-double with 17 points and 11 rebounds, not to mention both Armani and Crawford picked up three offensive boards each. Perkins matched Armani with 17 points and also had a balanced game with five rebounds and three assists.

Armani was able to do a little of everything with three assists, two blocks, and a steal as well.

Cintron co-led with Armani with two makes from range on the game and he also hauled in four rebounds.

Park will pack their bags for Canton, Mo. on Saturday against Culver-Stockton at 4pm. WATCH
Box Score