Lindenwood’s Romelo Burrell battles with Wisconsin-Parkside’s xx for the ball during Friday’s NCAA Division II men’s college basketball season opener between the two teams at Hyland Arena in St. Charles. (Photo courtesy: Lindenwood Athletics)
| Score by Half | 1 | 2 | Total |
|---|---|---|---|
| Wisconsin-Parkside (1-0) | 28 | 51 | 79 |
| Lindenwood (0-1) | 30 | 45 | 75 |
by Cedric Williams
Senior Editor
ST. CHARLES, MO — The Lindenwood University men’s basketball team lost its season opener, Friday night at Hyland Arena, 79-75, to visiting Wisconsin-Parkside. Lindenwood led for most of the first half and held a six-point edge at halftime, but Wisconsin-Parkside dominated the second half to take the lead and eventually pull away.
The Lions were led by senior forward Romelo Burrell, who finished the night with 22 points and 10 rebounds, his eighth career double-double, including his time at John A. Logan College and Central Michigan before transferring to Lindenwood before last season.
Burrell was especially good in the second half, when he scored 18 of his 22 points. Unfortunately though, Wisconsin-Parkside was led by dynamic scoring machine Tray Croft, who had a game-high 36 points, 21 coming in the second half, to help the Rangers grab the lead.
Wisconsin-Parkside led by as many as 14 points in that second half, before Lindenwood put together a 18-5 run, capped by a sensational step-back jumper and three-point play by senior Jacoby Ross, that cut the Lions’ deficit to just two with six seconds left on the clock.
But the Rangers were able to make a pair of clutch free throws with four seconds left that forced Lindenwood to have to try a wild three-pointer and hope for a miracle to tie. Unfortunately, the shot missed and the clock ran out, securing the victory for Wisconsin-Parkside.
“It’s a tough loss to open the season, but I thought our effort and competitiveness was pretty solid,” Lindenwood head coach Kyle Gerdeman said, in a statement released by the LU Athletic department. “We have to quickly learn from our mistakes and get ready for a good Kentucky Wesleyan team tomorrow night.”
Ross, a transfer from Alabama State, who was SWAC Freshman of the Year in 2019, finished with 21 points in Lindenwood debut.
Lindenwood (0-1) will be right back in action, Saturday night, when it will host Kentucky Wesleyan (1-0), which won its season opener, 84-76, earlier in the night against Illinois-Springfield as part of the Lindenwood Tipoff Classic.
Illinois-Springfield and Wisconsin-Parkside will play on Saturday as well. That game will begin at 5 p.m., while the Lindenwood-Kentucky Wesleyan game will tipoff at 7 p.m. Both games will be played at Lindenwood’s Hyland Arena.
| UWP | Player | GS | MIN | FG | 3PT | FT | ORB-DRB | REB | PF | A | TO | BLK | STL | PTS |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 04 | Tray Croft | * | 32 | 12-21 | 2-4 | 10-10 | 3-2 | 5 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 36 |
| 24 | Jamir Simpson | * | 34 | 4-9 | 0-1 | 5-6 | 2-4 | 6 | 4 | 1 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 13 |
| 01 | Vinson Sigmon Jr. | * | 34 | 4-11 | 0-4 | 2-2 | 1-5 | 6 | 3 | 1 | 4 | 0 | 7 | 10 |
| 20 | Colin O’Rourke | * | 28 | 3-9 | 0-2 | 1-1 | 4-7 | 11 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 7 |
| 12 | Nick Brown | * | 25 | 2-5 | 1-2 | 0-0 | 0-4 | 4 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 5 |
| 25 | Ramar Evans | 22 | 2-3 | 0-0 | 2-3 | 0-3 | 3 | 4 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 6 | |
| 34 | Bryce Prochaska | 12 | 1-3 | 0-1 | 0-1 | 0-3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | |
| 14 | Rasheed Bello | 12 | 0-2 | 0-1 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | |
| 30 | Jason Larson | 1 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| TM | TEAM | 0 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 3-2 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| TOTALS | – | 200 | 28-63 | 3-15 | 20-23 | 13-30 | 43 | 20 | 6 | 17 | 0 | 10 | 79 |
| LU | Player | GS | MIN | FG | 3PT | FT | ORB-DRB | REB | PF | A | TO | BLK | STL | PTS |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 24 | Romelo Burrell | * | 36 | 5-12 | 1-3 | 11-15 | 1-9 | 10 | 4 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 2 | 22 |
| 01 | Jacoby Ross | * | 35 | 9-20 | 1-6 | 2-3 | 0-2 | 2 | 3 | 2 | 6 | 1 | 1 | 21 |
| 11 | Kevin Caldwell, Jr. | * | 19 | 4-11 | 1-5 | 0-1 | 0-3 | 3 | 5 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 9 |
| 22 | Brandon Suggs | * | 28 | 4-6 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0-3 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 8 |
| 10 | Karrington Davis | * | 16 | 1-3 | 1-2 | 0-0 | 0-1 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 3 |
| 13 | Trent Champagne | 20 | 2-4 | 1-3 | 0-0 | 1-2 | 3 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 5 | |
| 25 | Keyyaun Batchman | 10 | 2-2 | 1-1 | 0-0 | 1-0 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 5 | |
| 05 | Anthony Christian | 17 | 1-4 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 1-2 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | |
| 02 | Brandon Trimble | 15 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0-1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| 15 | Frazier Ott | 4 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| TM | TEAM | 0 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 3-1 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| TOTALS | – | 200 | 28-62 | 6-20 | 13-19 | 7-24 | 31 | 21 | 11 | 13 | 7 | 9 | 75 |
| Lindenwood Men’s Basketball Upcoming Schedule |
| Sat., November 13 — vs. Kentucky Wesleyan — 7 pm |
| Wed., November 17 — vs. STL College of Health Sciences — 7:30 pm |
| Sat., November 20 — at Christian Brothers — 3 pm |
| Tue., November 23 — vs. Westminster — 7 pm |
| Mon., November 29 — vs. Maryville — 7:30 pm |
| Thu., December 2 — vs. Quincy — 7:30 pm |
| Sat., December 4 — vs. UMSL — 3 pm |
| All Lindenwood home basketball games will be played at Hyland Arena. |