EVANSVILLE, Ind. – Wisconsin-Parkside knocked down 13 threes inside the Ford Center Thursday, ending the Greyhounds' season with a 97-82 win in the Great Lakes Valley Conference Tournament quarterfinals.

Four of those triples came in the final minutes, as the Parkside senior Jake Verhagen dashed UIndy's comeback dreams with remarkable accuracy from beyond the perimeter. He helped the Rangers scorch the nets in the second half, shooting 19 of 27 (70.4%) overall as a team and 7 of 10 from deep.

"Parkside was really sharp offensively," Head Coach Stan Gouard told WICR afterward. "They scored 42 points in the first half, 55 in the second… Our defense just wasn't very good."

UIndy finishes the season 16-12 overall, and is now just 5-16 all-time in GLVC Tournament games. The Rangers, who defeated the Hounds in all three meetings this season, improve to 22-6, and advance to meet Bellarmine in the semifinals Saturday.

Despite the final outcome, the game started in Hounds' favor.

UIndy built an early 10-point lead, as junior Alex Etherington scored seven in the opening minutes to help the Hounds take a 12-2 advantage.

The Rangers didn't make a field goal until the 16:10 mark, but they quickly hit 3-pointers on four consecutive possessions to pull within 17-14 by the first media break.

The two sides battled back and forth for much of the period, resulting in seven lead changes and a pair of ties.

But foul trouble eventually impacted the Hounds, helping the Rangers close out the half on an 18-7 run to take their largest lead of the game into the break, 42-34. Three UIndy starters picked up two fouls, and leading scorer Eric Davidson had three in the first half.

Parkside shot an even 50 percent (13-26) in the opening period, and converted seven UIndy turnovers into 11 points.

After trailing by as many as 14 points early in the second half, the Greyhounds mounted one final push to try and upset the Rangers.

When redshirt-junior Ajay Lawton sank a free throw at the 4:39 mark, the Hounds had cut it to a two possession game, 74-68.

That's when Verhagen got loose, hitting four of his game-high seven 3-pointers against the Greyhound press in less than three minutes to all but put UIndy away.

"On the board in the locker room we said, "No rhythm shots," and that's all (Verhagen) shot late in the game, especially," Gouard said.

"We tried to speed them up, and were able to cut (the deficit) to six. We went into our press, but we also forgot about the shooters."

Lawton led the Greyhounds with 20 points, adding four rebounds and three steals.

Jesse Kempson scored 18 in just 23 minutes, hitting 8 of 10 from the charity stripe, and also recorded his 46th block of the year to set a new single-season program record*.

Fellow sophomore Jimmy King totaled 17 points, four assists and a pair of steals.

As a team, the Greyhounds finished with only eight assists on 25 field goals. They also committed 11 turnovers, leading to 16 Parkside points.

Wisconsin-Parkside shot over 60 percent (32-53) overall, totaling 20 assists and 31 rebounds to the Greyhounds' 25.

After a 3-7 record start to the season, the Hounds ultimately finished on a 13-5 stretch that saw them hit a seven-game winning streak and pick up a marquee win against then-No. 12 Southern Indiana back on Jan. 28.

With no seniors on the roster, Gouard was optimistic heading into the offseason.

"I'm really excited about the future of Greyhound basketball. We're a young basketball club, but we had five guys receive post season awards.

He continued: "Our future is bright. These guys just have to think about next year and what can they do better to better serve this team. I love what we have coming back."