Purdue Northwest Men Suffer 66-56 Setback to Hillsdale in Classic
Hillsdale, Mich. – Despite 19 points from senior guard Tyree Coe (Fishers, Ind./Fishers), the Purdue Northwest men’s basketball team struggled offensively in a 66-56 loss to host Hillsdale College (Mich.) in the final game of the Hillside Thanksgiving Classic Wednesday afternoon at Potter Arena in Hillsdale, Mich. Junior Jai Wright (Richmond, Ind./Richmond) and sophomore Lukas Vilkovsky (Kosice, Slovakia) each added 10 points for PNW.
Senior Torrence Johnson (Chicago Heights, Ill./Chicago Hope Academy) contributed six points and game-leading 11 rebounds, while freshman Richard Robertson (Fort Wayne, Ind./Fort Wayne Northrop) also tallied six points. In addition, Wright finished with six rebounds and five assists. Purdue Northwest shot 29 percent (18-for-63) from the field for the game.
The Pride fell behind early with the Chargers jumping out to a 10-2 lead in the game’s first seven minutes. Coe sank a three-pointer with just over nine minutes left in the first half to bring PNW within seven at 18-11, but Hillsdale quickly pushed its lead into double digits and a three-pointer by HC at the four-minute mark made the score, 31-18. Neither team scored in the final four minutes of the half, so the score remained 31-18 at the intermission.
Another three by Coe early in the second half made it a 10-point game, 31-21. However, PNW scored just four points over the next seven minutes of action to fall behind, 45-25. The Pride could not recover from the big deficit over the final 12 minutes of regulation getting as close as 10 points the rest of the way.
Purdue Northwest (0-4 overall) continues its road stretch on Saturday, November 25, heading to Oakland City, Ind., to take on Oakland City University. The non-conference match-up is scheduled for a 3 p.m. CT start at Johnson Center Gymnasium.