Nunn Shines; Purdue Northwest Men Suffer Loss to Davenport, 70-54

Westville, Ind. – Despite game-highs of 26 points, nine rebounds and six blocks by sophomore Franklin Nunn (Anderson, Ind./Liberty Christian), the Purdue Northwest men’s basketball team gave up an early second half lead and fell 70-54 to Davenport University (Mich.) in Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (GLIAC) action Thursday night at H.D. Kesling Gymnasium at the James B. Dworkin Complex in Westville, Ind.
Freshman Richard Robertson (Fort Wayne, Ind./Fort Wayne Northrup) added eight points for PNW in Thursday’s match-up. The Panthers were tough on the boards out-rebounding the Pride, 34-26.
The Pride took control early in the game building a 10-4 lead following a pair of free throws by sophomore Lukas Vilkovsky (Kosice, Slovakia/Get Better Academy) with 15:13 left in the first half. Davenport hit a three-pointer with 9:16 remaining in the period to take its first lead of the game, 19-18. Nunn went on a tear over the final eight minutes of the half scoring all 16 points to help PNW take a 34-30 lead into halftime.
Vilkovsky hit a trey for the Pride to open the second half, but the Panthers answered with a 9-2 run to tie the game at 39-39 with just over 16 minutes left in regulation. DU stayed hot and went ahead 47-40 on a three-pointer at the 12:02 mark. Nunn scored on back-to-back lay-ups to bring PNW to within three, 47-44, but Davenport responded with a 9-0 run to extend its lead to 12, 57-45, with 6:30 to play. PNW could not draw closer than 10 points the rest of the game.
Purdue Northwest (1-22 overall/1-14 GLIAC) heads up to Detroit, Mich., for its next conference game on Sunday, February 11, against the Wayne State Warriors. The GLIAC road game is scheduled for a 2 p.m. CT start at the Matthaei Center in Detroit.