Reco Anderson had a career-high 18 points and Herschel Rodgers added 19, as Park University knocked off No. 19 Illinois-Springfield 76-67 Thursday night at Breckon Sports Center in Parkville.
PARKVILLE, Mo. - Reco Anderson had a career-high 18 points and Herschel Rodgers added 19, as Park University knocked off No. 19 Illinois-Springfield 76-67 Thursday night at Breckon Sports Center in Parkville.
Park (10-9) also had 10 points from point guard Michael Zimmerman, and Milan Susnjar grabbed a team-high five rebounds despite getting out-boarded as a team by UIS, 39-31. The Prairie Stars (11-3) were led by Jeremy Winters' 16 points and 14 from Kelvin Johnson, and Nick Livas led UIS on the glass with 10 rebounds.
The Prairie Stars built a seven-point lead early in the game, going up 16-9 on a jumper by Richard Oruche at the 13:06 mark in the first half, but Park quickly stormed back, going on a 15-2 run to go up 24-18 with 5:46 in the first on Rodgers' 15-foot jumper.
Deron Cherry II pushed the lead to seven at the five-minute mark with a lay-in that made it 28-21, and the Pirates survived a 15-8 UIS run to end the half, taking a 36-34 lead to the break.
Anderson knocked down a pair of foul shots to begin the half, putting the Pirates up 38-34, and Park expanded on the lead a minute into the second frame, going up 40-34 on a jumper by Zimmerman with 19:00 to play.
The lead was good until the clock slipped under nine minutes, when Dane Litwiller completed a mid-half Prairie Star push with a pair of free throws, giving Illinois-Springfield a 53-52 lead with 8:44 to go. Park immediately erased the lead with two free throws by Cherry, and after a defensive stop, the Pirates got another bucket from Anderson to go up three, 56-53.
Park would not relinquish the lead for the game's remainder, despite UIS getting within a basket on three separate occasions with less than 5:00 to play. Park was 11-of-12 from the foul line in the game's final five minutes, and the Pirates limited UIS to 12 points in that same span, outscoring UIS 20-12 over the game's final 5:00.
Illinois-Springfield had cut the lead to two with 3:51 to go, but a Rodger's lay-up at 3:14 paired with back-to-back foul shots from Anderson made it a six-point game with less than three minutes to go, and Rodgers iced it at the foul line with eight seconds remaining, knocking down both free throws to go up nine, 76-67.
Park finished the game 86.2-percent from the foul line on 25-of-29, while UIS was 13-for-24 at the stripe, 54.2-percent. The Pirates, who return to the court Tuesday at Peru State, forced 18 Prairie Star turnovers in the win. Tuesday's game with the Bobcats is scheduled for a 7 p.m. start at the Al Wheeler Activity Center in Peru, Neb.
