Mroz Shoots UMSL Past Wisconsin-Parkside
Junior Scores 22 Points; UMSL Gets Big Second Half in Win
Kenosha, Wis. – The Missouri-St. Louis men’s basketball team used a big second half and got a career high 22 points from Chris Mroz (Chicago, Ill./St. Patrick) to claim an 80-73 win at Wisconsin-Parkside on Thursday night.
UMSL got off to a quick start in a game or spurts in the early going. The Rivermen scored the first six points of the game before UWP responded with seven straight points to reclaim the lead. UMSL then used its second spurt of the game, using a 9-0 run to take a 15-7 lead. The Rivermen would hold that lead as the Rangers chipped away and eventually regained the lead at 22-21 with six minutes left in the half. UWP would hold that lead and extend it to a four-point game, 35-31, at halftime.
Wisconsin-Parkside came out firing in the second half, scoring seven of the first nine points of the half. The Rangers would extend their lead out to as many as 13 points at 55-42 with just 13 minutes left in the game before UMSL made its comeback charge. Joey Paul (Highland Park, Ill./Highland Park) started the comeback with a jumper that ignited a run of seven straight by UMSL. UWP responded with a three-pointer and after an exchange of jumpers, the Rangers still led by nine, 60-51, with eight minutes to play. Over the next three minutes, UMSL made a big run, scoring eight straight points to cut the deficit to just one point. Chris Mroz hit a big three-pointer during that stretch that made it a 60-59 game. After a three pointer by UWP, Mroz stepped up again and hit a three pointer of his own to keep it a one-point game, and a layup by Tim Geurin (St. Louis, Mo./Parkway West) gave UMSL a 64-63 lead. Wisconsin-Parkside grabbed the lead right back with a three pointer for a 66-64 advantage, but Aaron Green (St. Louis, Mo./Riverview Gardens) would hit one from long range to give UMSL the lead for good at 67-66. The Rivermen got two buckets from Jonathan Griffin (St. Louis, Mo./Normandy) down the stretch and hit 9-of-10 free throws in the final two and a half minutes to secure the 80-73 win.
UMSL was led by Chris Mroz with a career high 22 points on 6-of-8 shooting from the field, including 4-of-5 from three-point range, and a perfect 6-of-6 from the line with all six free throws coming in the final three minutes of the game. Aaron Green added 18 points and Joey Paul and Derrell Minner (New Madrid, Mo./New Madrid Central) each had six rebounds.
The Rivermen imrpove to 3-10 on the season and 2-7 in the Great Lakes Valley Conference. UMSL will be in action again on Saturday when they play at Lewis beginning at 3 pm.