UNIVERSITY CENTER, Mich. – The Purdue Northwest men's basketball team fell 86-68 to Saginaw Valley State on Saturday afternoon.
PNW dropped to 5-19 (2-14 GLIAC) following the setback. The Pride will shift their focus toward three home games next week at the Hammond Campus Fitness & Recreation Center.
Jyrus Freels (Evansville, Ind./Francis Joseph Reitz) and
Logan Phillips (Chandler, Ariz./Valley Christian) each scored 17 points to lead the Pride, while
Anthony Barnard (Kokomo, Ind./Kokomo) posted 16. Freels also grabbed a team-high nine rebounds with four on the offensive end.
HEAD COACH BOOMER ROBERTS:
"Our consistency is lacking. We did a lot of really good things, but we had some head-scratching moments. We did a poor job defensively in the first half, and then we were really good on that end in the second half. Inconsistent gets you beat in the GLIAC. Offensively, we have to convert simple opportunities when given the chance. We missed some bunnies around the rim and some wide-open looks from deep. We'll show up Monday and work and get ready for a big homestand."
How it happened: PNW couldn't overcome a 19-point halftime deficit, despite outscoring Saginaw Valley in the second period.
After an opening bucket from
Mikell Cooper (Milwaukee, Wis./Bradley Tech) to start the game, the Pride would end up falling behind as the Cardinals responded with a 10-0 run. PNW eventually settled down though, and put together an 11-0 run of its own to reclaim the lead on Barnard's 3-pointer with 13 minutes until halftime.
However, SVSU would respond to go ahead by as much as 21 in the opening half with another big run prior to intermission. The Cardinals shot a blistering 57 percent from the field over the opening 20 minutes, including 8 of 13 from three-point range.
The Pride tried to climb back and were able to slice the deficit to single digits with under seven minutes left in regulation. Freels' layup made it 72-63 but SVSU scored on the next possession and maintained its double-digit lead the rest of the way.
Saginaw shot 50 percent overall from the field, while PNW registered an overall 37.5 percent shooting clip.
The Cardinals were led by Tre Garrett with 15 points on 6-for-6 shooting. Delano Smith added 14 while Darnell Hoskins Jr. scored 11.
UP NEXT
PNW will gear up for three games in four days next week, starting with Wednesday's makeup game against Northwood which starts at 6 p.m. CST. The Pride will host Lake Superior State on Thursday (Homecoming) and Ferris State on Saturday.
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.
