Westville, Ind. – Senior Tyree Coe (Fishers, Ind./Fishers) drained a game-high six three-pointers and finished with 23 points, but the Purdue Northwest men's basketball team could not hang on to its late 63-61 lead and fell 75-66 to Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (GLIAC) foe Michigan Tech Saturday afternoon at H.D. Kesling Gymnasium in the James B. Dworkin Complex in Westville, Ind.  Senior Torrance Johnson (Chicago Heights, Ill./Chicago Hope Academy) also had a nice performance for the Pride with a double-double effort of 16 points and game-leading 10 rebounds.

Junior Chris Nunn (Anderson, Ind./Liberty Christian) finished the game with 14 points and six rebounds for PNW shooting 6-for-10 from the floor.  The Pride were solid on the boards out-rebounding the visiting Huskies, 34-30, in the game.  Unfortunately, 17 turnovers Saturday plagued Purdue Northwest, especially late in the game. 

The Pride started in impressive fashion jumping out to an 18-6 lead following back-to-back lay-ups by Johnson and Nunn.  A three-pointer by junior Jai Wright (Richmond, Ind./Richmond) with 4:35 to play in the first half put PNW up 27-16, but Michigan Tech rallied back and trimmed the lead down to four, 31-27, in the final minute.  A lay-up by Nunn in the closing seconds gave Purdue Northwest a 33-27 edge at the half.

A three-pointer by Coe early in the second half pushed the Pride lead up to 10 points (45-35), but the Huskies fought back again and closed the gap to four, 54-50, midway through the period.  The two teams went back and forth over the next seven minutes of action before Coe hit a big trey to give PNW the 63-61 lead with three minutes to play.  The Pride trailed 66-63 with 1:12 remaining, but turnovers on their next two possessions proved costly as MTU capitalized by pushing its lead up to eight points with 41 seconds left.  The Huskies continued to hit free throws in the final seconds to secure the victory. 

Purdue Northwest (0-9 overall/0-4 GLIAC) continues its season on Saturday, December 16, hosting Grand Valley State University (Mich.).  The game is scheduled for a 3 p.m. CT start at John Friend Court at the Fitness & Recreation Center in Hammond, Ind.