Park University’s men’s basketball team has started their 2017-2018 season. The Pirates competed in the MidAmerica Nazarene University Tip Off Classic on November 2 and 3, splitting their two contests.

Park’s first opponent of the season came in the form of Bellevue University.  The Bruins, ranked No. 4 nationally in NAIA Division 2, seized a 14-point lead with less than three minutes left in the game. Park would claw their way back within six, but Bellevue held on for a 68-62 victory.  Junior guard Zach Rutland led all scorers.  He poured in nearly half of Park’s point total, finishing with 30 points on 11-21 shooting. Senior center Mason Stuteville also contributed 14 points, going 6-11 from the field. As a team, Park’s box score was uninspiring. The Pirates ended the night with three total assists to Bellevue’s 13. The Bruin’s reserves outscored Park’s bench 28-4, with the Pirates attempting just five shots the entire game.

The Pirates would rebound in a big way the next night against Kansas Christian College. Park dropped 55 points in the second half en route to a 98-72 blowout of the Falcons. Stuteville tallied 20 points in just 24 minutes as five Pirates reached double figures. Junior forward Allen Hyatt flirted with a triple-double. The 6’7” Kansas City native ended with 10 points, nine rebounds and led the team with seven assists. Park’s reserves also redeemed their previous performance. Nine players combined for 38 points on a 56 percent clip. The Pirates also eclipsed their assist total from the previous night with 16:11 remaining in the first half. Park finished with 29 assists, outrebounding the Falcons by 14.

Park returns eight players this year, with just two starters remaining from last year’s national tournament team. Park lost their two highest scorers from a season ago in two-time American Midwest Conference player of the year Xavielle Brown and first team all AMC selection BJ Watson, with Watson returning as an assistant coach this year.

Zach Rutland, who received honorable mention AMC honors last season, will attempt to replace their production. Through two games Rutland, listed at 5’7”, is averaging 24 points per game while going an efficient 50 percent from the field. He’s also gone 76 percent from the charity stripe on 13 attempts.

Senior guard Levi Mitchell is the only other returning starter for the Pirates. Mitchell represents the only starter with more than one year of experience at Park. He’s been with the program since 2014, starting 55 career games. The seasoned guard has never been a bulk scorer with a career 6.3 ppg mark. However, he’s been top three on the team in steals the past two years and led the Pirates in rebounds last season by a wide margin.

Through two games Park’s second-best scorer has been a senior center, Mason Stuteville. Stuteville transferred to Park from California Baptist University where he averaged just three points and two rebounds while getting just over eight minutes per game. The near seven-footer has blown those numbers out of the water so far; he’s averaged 17 ppg on 64 percent shooting to go along with 6.5 rebounds per game. The Pirates didn’t even have a center listed on their roster last season, so Stuteville’s 6’11”, 235lb frame gives Park University a much-welcomed scoring option down low.

The other big man for Park is sophomore forward Allen Hyatt. Hyatt played two seasons with NCAA Division 2 Drury University before transferring to Park this season. Through two games Hyatt leads Park in blocks, steals and rebounds and is second on the team in assists. At 6’7”, Hyatt represents a defensively stout forward with center-like skills and is a competent, if not reliable offensive weapon.

Rounding out the starting five is junior guard Josh Rutland, the brother of Zack Rutland. J. Rutland played in 28 contests last season while averaging almost 14 minutes/game. Though J. Rutland has only attempted seven shots this season, he’s posted a mark of 7.5 ppg.

The Pirates will also rely on the guard trio of freshman Jacob Kline, sophomore Roberto Gonzalez and sophomore Brandon Townsell for reserve support. Combined, the three guards have averaged 12.5 ppg going 9-16 from the field and 57 percent from behind the arc.

This fresh-faced Park roster has an opportunity to qualify for their third straight NAIA national tournament, which would be a first in program history. This year also marks the first time the Pirates have cracked the preseason rankings in back-to-back seasons. Their No. 17 rank represents the second-highest preseason ranking ever for Park, behind only the No. 16 preseason rank Park received in 2007 and 2016. Within the AMC, Park will have to dispatch No. 7 Columbia College to win their first conference title.

Park will have a 13-day hiatus before welcoming Missouri Baptist University into the Breckon Sports Center on November 16.