DETROIT — The game-tying shot rimmed out at the buzzer as Purdue Northwest fell 56-53 to Wayne State on Thursday night inside the newly-built Wayne State Fieldhouse.
Despite its gritty effort to nearly pull out the league road win, PNW dropped to 5-18 (2-13 GLIAC) overall.
HEAD COACH BOOMER ROBERTS:
"I am proud of our guys for the way they competed. We played our best defensive game of the season tonight. We did a really good job communicating and staying locked in, and that gave us a chance to win it late. We just missed too many open looks."
How it happened: PNW fell behind by as many as 19 points late in the first half and trailed 34-20 at the break. The Pride shot just 29 percent over the opening stanza.
But the Pride kept clawing and overcame the adversity to take the lead with two minutes left in regulation.
Sangolay Njie's (Chicago, Ill./Whitney Young) tip-in with 10 minutes left made it an eight-point game, 45-37, followed by a pair of key baskets from
Anthony Barnard (Kokomo, Ind./Kokomo) and
Anthony Irvin (Chandler, Ariz./Corona Del Sol) which ignited a 15-2 run. The Pride held the Warriors scoreless for nearly six minutes, outscoring the hosts 33-22 and limiting WSU to 25-percent shooting without allowing a 3-pointer in the second half.
Mikell Cooper (Milwaukee, Wis./Bradley Tech) put PNW in front 52-51 at the two-minute mark, giving the Pride their first lead since the start of the game.
Cooper went to the line again with 47 seconds left and tied the score at 53-53. But, WSU's Darian Owens-White drove the lane and got the go-ahead layup to fall on the next possession.
Barnard finished with 17 points to lead the Pride in scoring and came up one rebound shy of a double-double with nine. Cooper recorded 12 points and four assists while Njie chipped in with six points and eight boards.
The Warriors were led by Owens-White with just 10 points on 3-of-13 shooting. WSU's leading scorer Brailen Neely was held to only four points and one made field goal.
UP NEXT
PNW travels to Saginaw Valley State for a 2 p.m. CST Saturday afternoon matchup. The Pride have added a home game against Northwood on Wednesday, Feb. 16 to kick off a three-game homestand next week.
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.
