KANSAS CITY – The Purdue University Northwest men's basketball team fell 76-71 to William Jewell College Friday night in a scrappy neutral-site contest. It was the first game of the GLVC/GLIAC Crossover hosted by Rockhurst University inside Mason-Halpin Field House.
HEAD COACH BOOMER ROBERTS:
"Adversity has obviously hit us early in terms of who we have available. But, our guys didn't flinch. We competed hard, just left a lot of points on the board with turnovers and missed free throws.
Our young guys learned a lot tonight, and hopefully it'll carry over to tomorrow."
STAT LEADERS
- Caleb Zurliene led the way with a career-high 16 points on 7-of-11 shooting
- Sangolay Njie posted a double-double off the bench with 14 points and 14 rebounds in his debut
- Anthony Irvin knocked down three 3-pointers and finished with a career-high 13 points
- Jonte Coleman reached double figures with 10 points in his first game with the Pride
- Three players had three assists, including Coleman, Njie and Logan Phillips
- Coleman recorded three steals and Phillips tallied three blocks
How it happened: PNW (0-1) trailed by as much as 12 points in the first half, but rallied to lead for a good portion of the second stanza in a back-and-forth game.
With under five minutes left, the Pride took a 65-62 lead on
Sangolay Njie's layup but the Cardinals responded by converting a second-chance look at a 3-pointer to prevent a PNW run.
Then, both teams went scoreless for nearly three minutes until WJC broke the stalemate to grab a 69-67 lead with under a minute remaining. The Cards would hold on down the stretch in the season opener for both squads.
PNW fell victim to 23 turnovers including four critical miscues in the final minutes of the game. The Pride also shot just 4 of 13 (30.8%) from the free-throw line, despite shooting 53.6% overall from the field.
William Jewell's Heri Tshiyoyo led all scorers with 22 points and Jordan Jermain hit four treys to finish with 16 points. Kobe McKinley also had 15 points and nine boards for the Cards.
UP NEXT
PNW goes up against host Rockhurst University tomorrow afternoon in a 3 p.m. CT tipoff.
FOLLOW THE PRIDE
For all the latest information on Purdue Northwest men's basketball, please visit PNWathletics.com. For up-to-the-minute updates, follow the Pride (@pnwathletics & @PNWBasketball) on Twitter. You can also find the Pride on Instagram, Facebook and YouTube.
