HOUGHTON, Mich. – Purdue Northwest's Mikell Cooper and Vincent Miszkiewicz each scored double figures in their GLIAC debut, but PNW fell 68-59 Saturday at Michigan Tech in the season opener for both teams.

HEAD COACH BOOMER ROBERTS
"It's not overly complicated. We turned the ball over way too much. You can't do that against any team, much less a good offensive team like Michigan Tech. We were able to guard well in the second half, but didn't give ourselves a real chance to win the game because we turned it over too much."

STAT LEADERS
Cooper led PNW with 15 points, six rebounds and two assists, while Miszkiewicz produced a double-double with 13 points and 11 boards. Four of those rebounds came on the offensive glass.

In addition, Gregory Boyle chipped with nine points along with six points and five rebounds from Anthony Barnard. Preseason All-GLIAC selection Jyrus Freels logged five points, three assists and eight boards and Xavier Allison added five points, four assists and three rebounds.

SUMMARY
Michigan Tech, who returned four starters from last year's conference championship squad, raced out to a 12-6 lead in the early going as preseason All-GLIAC selection Dawson Bilski caught fire, draining four 3-pointers on MTU's opening four possessions.

Back-to-back buckets from Freels and Barnard gave PNW its first lead of the day, capping a quick 7-0 run at the 14:51 mark. The momentum continued as the Pride outscored the Huskies 17-6 over a five-minute span.

During the scoring spurt, Cooper took command with three consecutive baskets and the Pride moved ahead by five points when Boyle drained a three-pointer, making it 23-18 at the 12-minute mark of the first half.

Then, Michigan Tech punched back in strong fashion.

The Huskies led by as much as 14 before halftime and closed the first period on a 22-6 run of their own following the Boyle three-pointer.

Coming out of the break, MTU remained in front as the lead swelled to as much as 15 until PNW finally climbed back to get within eight points when Allison's layup trimmed the deficit to 47-39 with 10 minutes remaining.

MTU countered soon after to move back ahead by 12, but the Black & Gold kept chipping away to make it a one-possession game when Cooper's three-pointer at the 3:14 mark made it 57-55. The Pride pieced together a 13-3 run to get back in it, which featured seven points from Cooper.

But again, the Huskies countered on the ensuing possession and closed the game on a 9-4 run.

Bilski scored six of those points and finished with a game-high 24 on 7-of-16 shooting. Prior to his free throws at the end, the Pride limited the preseason all-conference selection to just six points after he torched the nets to begin the game.

MTU's Trent Bell filled the stat sheet with 14 points, eight assists, five rebounds, three steals and a block. Eric Carl also recorded double figures with 11 points for the Huskies.

TEAM STATS
As coach Roberts mentioned, turnovers proved costly as PNW finished the game with 25. The host Huskies had 16 turnovers on the day.

Both teams shot 40 percent from the floor overall and both struggled at the free-throw line, shooting under 60 percent.

PNW registered a 40-34 advantage in rebounds which included 10 offensive boards.

NEXT UP
These two teams meet again tomorrow at the same time and place (1 p.m. EST). PNW men's hoops will return for their home opener next weekend against Lake Superior State.