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.  Â
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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.
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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.
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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.  Â
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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.Â
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