MESA, Ariz. --- The Park University men's basketball team (5-8, 0-3) lost to the Indiana Wesleyan University Wildcats (10-2, 2-2) by a score of 82-75, Monday afternoon at Arizona Athletic Grounds in Mesa, Ariz.

The Buccaneers put up a valiant fight against the No. 6 program in the NAIA, even outscoring IWU in the second half 31-29.

In the first 10 minutes of this contest, Park-Gilbert kept pace with the high-scoring Wildcat offense. They even held a three-point lead with six minutes left in the half as Hangasu Noor slammed in a dunk, followed by his chase-down block on the other end that fired up the Buccaneer bench. Park-Gilbert relied on transition defense and fast break buckets to stay alive as they forced five first-half turnovers.

Indiana Wesleyan stretched its lead to nine points at the end of the first half. The Wildcats held their largest lead of the game (13) with 17 minutes remaining, but that's when the Bucs started clawing back with their defense. They held IWU to 29% shooting in the second half as the Wildcats went 0-10 from outside in that frame. With five minutes left in the game, Caleb Ivy got the and-1 layup to fall which gave Park-Gilbert a one-point lead which was unfortunately was short-lived.

Despite both teams combining for 157 points, buckets came at a premium. Park and shot 40.3% and 23.1% from downtown while IWU shot 39.7% and 25.9% respectively.

Buccaneers guard Mahlik Lindsey was the team's leading scorer with 23 points with five assists and four rebounds. Lindsey fouled out late in the game, logging a total of 32 minutes. Tanner Pate added 17 points to the equation as he racked up three steals and four rebounds. Noor was four points and three rebounds from a double-double.

The Buccaneers return to the floor this Wednesday at 1 p.m. MST, as they take on Rocky Mountain College in Park's lone game in the Cactus Classic, hosted by Arizona Christian University. The 2025 Cactus Classic games will be played at Chandler-Gilbert Community College in Chandler, Ariz.