LAKELAND, Fla. – The Saint Leo University Men's basketball team appeared poised to take a win on Day One of the Terrace Hotel Classic hosted by Florida Southern, but Parkside's pressure late in the game, combined with late key turnovers from the Lions, allowed the Rangers to come back and win on a basket in the final minute to prevail 72-70 Friday evening at the George W. Jenkins Fieldhouse.
 
Saint Leo (2-3, 0-1 SSC) had a lead as large as 16 before the Rangers (4-1) slowly crawled their way back in the contest in the second half.  The Lions maintained a lead for 31 minutes of the game.
 
The Lions shot its season shooting average on the day, going 27-of-54 from the field.  The Green & Gold also shot a season-high 53.8% from beyond the perimeter.  In the end, UWP had 11 more free-throw opportunities than Saint Leo, as the Rangers went 20-for-24 from the charity stripe compared to the Lions' 9-for-13.
 
Defensively, Saint Leo shut down UWP's 3-pt. game, limiting the Rangers to 19% on the day.
 
Redshirt Senior Guard Kanon Koster led Saint Leo's scoring, tallying 19 points from shooting 7-for-11 from the court, fueled by an impressive 5-of-6 from long range.  "Kanon was very good for us and probably played his best overall game" said Head Coach Lance Randall.
 
Sophomores Grant Disken and Cantia Rahming joined Koster in the double-digit group, respectively posting 13 and 12 points on the day.
 
After a 38-38 tie at the end of the first half, the Lions posted a roaring 17-4 run over the course of nearly seven minutes.  Saint Leo would ultimately push its lead to its largest of the contest at 66-50 with 8:39 remaining.
 
In the final eight minutes of the game, Parkside rode on good free throws and Lion turnovers to climb all the way back and take the lead 70-69 with 45 seconds left.
 
After Fifth-Year Forward Marty Jackson went 1-for-2 on the ensuing free throw set, the Rangers converted on the go-ahead layup, leaving 10 seconds left for the Lions to respond, but a missed 3-ptr. from Disken completed Parkside's 72-70 comeback win.
 
"We did some really good things in this game on both sides of the ball" said Randall after the game.  "Foul trouble hurt us a little bit because our best players had to sit a little longer than I would have liked them to.  We had numerous execution errors on both sides of the ball that hurt us.We missed some point blank shots and a couple of free throws, but even before that happens, execution was an issue.  They got us on the offensive glass in the second half with the killer being the game-winner."
 
"We have a lot of moving parts with nine new guys; we have to learn how to do winning things together."
 
The Lions will have no time to lick its wounds, as the team will look to find a win against Anderson on Saturday; tipoff is set for 5:30 p.m.
 
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