KENOSHA — The road to its first Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference title for the UW-Parkside men’s basketball team has one hurdle left.
And the Rangers don’t have to venture far for that opportunity.
Parkside rolled past Wayne State, 69-47, on Thursday night to move to within one victory of at least a tie for the GLIAC regular-season crown. The Rangers improved to 13-4 in the GLIAC (20-7 overall), tied with Ferris State, which plays Grand Valley State in the finale Saturday.
The Rangers host Saginaw Valley State at 3 p.m. Saturday in the De Simone Gymnasium. Parkside defeated Saginaw Valley (9-8 GLIAC), 77-62, on Dec. 9. A victory will not only guarantee at least a piece of the title, but will also give Parkside the top seed in the conference tournament that begins next week.
“That was a character win for us (Thursday night),” UW-Parkside head coach Luke Reigel, who reached the 20-win plateau for the sixth time. “The first 15 minutes were as ugly as they could be, but our kids hung tough. I am very proud of this group. They showed a lot of mental toughness.”
UW-Parkside joins GLIAC
Parkside joined the GLIAC in 2018, and in that season, the Rangers captured the North Division crown. Prior to that, Reigel guided the team to four straight Great Lakes Valley Conference East Division titles from 2012-2016.
With Thursday night’s win, Reigel, who is in his 19th season, improved his overall record to 296-263. Parkside has played in six NCAA Division II Tournaments in his tenure.
The back-and-forth game Thursday sat tied at 41-41 with 12 minutes and 27 seconds remaining before the Rangers put together a 28-8 scoring run to pull away and secure the victory. Sanmi Fajana, who led the way with 17 points, and Rasheed Bello (16 points) led the way during the run with seven points each.
Parkside trailed at one point in the first half by 14 points, but cut the deficit to just three before the intermission.
For those unable to attend Saturday’s game, online coverage can be found at www.ParksideRangers.com/coverage.
But for the fans who do attend, it should be quite the exciting home atmosphere and an afternoon that hopefully ends with one activity after the final horn sounds, Parkside Athletic Director Andrew Gavin said.
“It’s a really big deal for us, a chance to win our first GLIAC championship,” Gavin said. “Hopefully, we’ll get a good crowd and have an opportunity to cut the nets down.”
Sports
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