The William Jewell men's basketball team fell just short of an upset of a top 25 ranked team as they fell 73-69 to No. 23 Wisconsin-Parkside on the road Thursday evening. With the loss, the Cardinals fall to 7-13 overall, 2-10 in the Great Lakes Valley Conference. Meanwhile the Rangers move to 17-3, 10-2 in the league. 

Unlike other contests where Jewell has been forced to mount a large comeback, the Cardinals remained close to the Rangers the entire night. The largest lead for either team was seven points which came just minutes into the game. A layup with 43 seconds to play in the first half put UW-Parkside up by one, 32-31 at the break. 

Jewell started the second half strong, tying the game twice in the first three minutes. The Cardinals pulled within one three times over the next nine minutes, with the Rangers responding each time, before an offensive rebound put-back from Jordan Tanner gave Jewell their first lead of the night at the 8:13 mark of the second half, 59-57. The margin grew to as many as four (61-57) before Parkside battled back to regain the lead at 64-63 with 4:29 to play, a lead they did not relinquish, despite furious rallies from the Cardinals. 

With 23 seconds to play it seemed as though the Rangers would walk out the rest of the game as they held a 71-66 lead. However, senior Darius Tomlin made things interesting as he was fouled attempting a three point shot and connected on all three free throws to pull Jewell within two with 11 seconds remaining. Unfortunately the Cardinals were forced to foul the Rangers' Andy Mazurczak who is an 88 percent free throw shooter, and connected on two shots to push the Rangers to the final margin of four. 

Tanner posted a career-high 20 points to go along with eight rebounds, including six offensive boards. Larry Fitzgerald added 17 on 3-6 from behind the arc while Tomlin chipped in 11 to put three Cardinal players in double-figures. 

One of the brighter spots for Jewell was the play of the bench. In the first half, two starters and one key reserve all had two fouls which forced coach Larry Holley deeper into his bench. Emil Ostafiicuic grabbed four points, three rebounds, and two steals in just seven minutes of play in the opening half. Easton Koch, Clark Minnifield, and Simon Zajicek were all also praised by Holley post-game for their performances. 

Up next for the Cardinals is a trip to Romeoville, Ill. on Saturday to take on the Flyers of Lewis University beginning at approximately 3:00 p.m.