HAMMOND, Ind. -- The Purdue University Northwest Men's Basketball team took on the University of Illinois Springfield PrairieStars in their 2019-20 home opener, ending the contest in extra minutes with a heartbreaking loss of 85-97. The Pride made it's fierce contest against UIS, trading leads back and forth late in the second half until the 78-78 tie that ultimately led to overtime.
The Pride shot just over 42 percent with their field goals - making 37 out of 87 attempted - as well as 28 percent from beyond the 3-point line. The Pride were led on the scoresheet by No. 32
Jyrus Freels with 18 points, 7 rebounds, and 35 minutes on the court. No. 3
Chandler Spring took a nine shots from behind the arc, hitting a huge three late in the game to close the game before No. 21
Timothy Gilmore's 3-point shot tied the game at 78-78. No. 24
Jordan Doss took home 12 points with six rebounds and two steals. No. 10
Xavier Hallinan and No. 1
Xavier Allison each put up 10 points with the latter draining two from beyond the arc. By the end of the contest, the lead between the Pride and the PrairieStars had changed 31 times with the Pride making 40 points in the paint.
In total, PNW came up with 41 rebounds and three blocks against UIS who barely led the Pride on the statsheet until the overtime period. It was the extra five minutes of play that the PrairieStars found a a renewed fire and overcame the Pride's defense.
"Difficult loss tonight," said Head Coach
Boomer Roberts. "We competed and had some great chances to finish the game in regulation. We had some good looks down the stretch and missed them, and they didn't miss theirs. Just didn't get stops in OT when we needed to, and we offensively didn't execute at a high enough level to match UIS. Still, it's very clear to me how much we've improved in this last year, and that's a credit to our guys. We're going to keep getting better and learn from each game."
The Pride will next be in action at home on Saturday, November 23 when they will host Quincy University at 3 pm (CT).
