Late Turnovers Plague Purdue Northwest Men in 61-58 Road Loss to Tiffin

Late Turnovers Plague Purdue Northwest Men in 61-58 Road Loss to Tiffin

Tiffin, Ohio – Despite 17 points and seven rebounds by senior Torrance Johnson (Chicago Heights, Ill./Chicago Hope Academy), the Purdue Northwest men’s basketball team was plagued by late turnovers down the stretch and fell 61-58 in a Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (GLIAC) match-up with Tiffin University (Ohio) Thursday evening at the Gillmore Student Center in Tiffin, Ohio.  The Pride led 58-50 with 2:05 left to play in regulation, but five turnovers in the final three minutes of the game allowed the Dragons to rally back for the conference win.    

Senior Tyree Coe (Fishers, Ind./Fishers) was the only other PNW player to score in double figures Thursday with 11 points to go along with his team-leading eight rebounds.  Junior Chris Nunn (Anderson, Ind./Liberty Christian) recorded nine points, four assists and four steals.  The Pride struggled offensively connecting on just 38 percent (25-for-66) of their total shot attempts, including only 19 percent (4-for-21) from the three-point arc and 40 percent (4-for-10) from the free throw line.

Johnson got Purdue Northwest off to a great start scoring five quick points to help give his team an early 9-2 lead over the game’s first four minutes of action.  A lay-up by Nunn put the Pride up 18-10 near the midpoint of the first half, but TU fought back and drew within two, 24-22, on a three-pointer by Quentin Jones with 7:20 left in the half.  However, PNW maintained its lead and extended it to seven, 33-26, at the break on a free throw by Coe.

A lay-up by sophomore Lukas Vilkovsky (Kosice, Slovakia/Get Better Academy) in the opening seconds of the second half pushed the advantage to nine, 35-26.  The Pride kept the Dragons at bay over the next 12 minutes of play and built a double-digit edge multiple times, including a 14-point lead (56-42) with 5:51 remaining following a jumper in the paint by Vilkovsky.  Unfortunately for PNW, the offense went cold and turnovers took a toll over the final minutes of play as Tiffin closed out the game with a 19-2 surge to pull off the rally.    

Purdue Northwest (1-15 overall/1-7 GLIAC) heads to Ashland, Ohio, on Saturday, January 13, to take on GLIAC foe Ashland University.  The conference game is slated for a 2 p.m. CT start at Kates Gymnasium in Ashland, Ohio.