HAMMOND, Ind. — Playing its third game in four days,
Purdue Northwest came out on fire and upset No. 19 Ferris State in overtime, 80-77, inside the Fitness & Recreation Center on Saturday.
The Pride featured a balanced attack with
Jyrus Freels (Evansville, Ind./Francis Joseph Reitz) leading the way with a double-double, posting 19 points including 15 in the first half, along with 10 rebounds. The Pride honored its two seniors, Freels and
Piotr Gago (Chicago, Ill./Taft), prior to the game.
It was the first win over a nationally-ranked opponent in the team's Division II history as PNW registered its second win over Ferris State in the all-time series betwen the teams. Saturday's final score reflected the exact same score from PNW's win at Ferris State almost a year to the day (Feb. 20, 2021). The victory also avenged a 43-point loss to FSU earlier this season as the Pride dealt the first-place Bulldogs (20-6, 15-3 GLIAC) just their third conference loss. The Pride now sit 7-20 (4-15 GLIAC) overall heading into next week's regular-season finale.
HEAD COACH BOOMER ROBERTS:
"That was a senior day we'll never forget. Really happy for Pete and Jyro, who have brought so much to our basketball family despite some really tough things going on in their personal lives. They led us tonight with their attitude and voice, and the rest of our guys responded.
Ferris is a national contender for a reason, and we've got a lot of respect for their program. But today we played with passion from the jump and really guarded. We got stops on the first eight possessions against the best offensive team in the GLIAC. And we continued it, holding them to thirty-three percent for the game. Ferris never stops competing so we knew they'd make a charge, but we regrouped with some serious mental toughness in overtime to finish the win.
Z, Ant, Logan, and Sangolay played huge roles as young guys and made big plays, and AB was a warrior on both ends. Jyro was the baller we know he is, and Pete's speech to the team at the beginning of OT set the tone for a big win for our basketball family.
Very thankful for this group of guys, and grateful for a big time crowd we had tonight."
How it happened: Freels started hot with three consecutive buckets to put the Pride up 6-0, and the Bulldogs, who entered the game ranked eighth in the nation in scoring offense, struggled to score in the first half against the Pride defense. PNW led for nearly 40 minutes in the overtime contest, including a 32-27 advantage at the halftime break. The Pride held FSU's leading scorer Walt Kelser scoreless until 8:04 left in regulation. Kelser finished just 2 of 17 from the field with seven points.
In the second half, PNW created some distance by taking a 12-point lead with under six minutes left.
Sangolay Njie (Chicago, Ill./Whitney Young) found
Anthony Barnard (Kokomo, Ind./Kokomo) with a full-court outlet pass and Barnard flushed a two-handed slam on the fastbreak to send the home crowd into a frenzy as the Pride went up 62-50. The momentum swung in PNW's favor earlier in the second period when
Anthony Irvin's (Chandler, Ariz./Corona Del Sol) three sparked a 12-2 run.
However, the Bulldogs rallied down the final stretch of regulation and tied the game on a layup with 23 seconds. The Pride led 68-61 with under a minute to go, but a big three from FSU's Lee Higgins sparked the comeback. The Bulldogs got the final look at the buzzer, but Kelser's contested fadeaway fell short.
In overtime, PNW trailed 71-70 until three consecutive treys by Irvin,
Logan Phillips (Chandler, Ariz./Valley Christian) and
Caleb Zurliene (Breese, Ill./Mater Dei) put the Pride ahead for good. The Pride shot 36 percent from three-point range while holding the Bulldogs to just 2-of-19 (10.5%) three-point shooting.
Barnard finished with 16 points and seven rebounds while Zurliene had 13 points, eight boards and five blocks. Irvin and Njie both reached double digits in scoring with 11 and 10 points, respectively.
FSU's 6-foot-10 forward Vejas Grazulis led the visitors with 20 points on 10-of-11 shooting at the foul line. The Bulldogs went 23 for 28 at the line overall. Logan Ryan registered 17 points and 13 boards for the Bulldogs.
UP NEXT
PNW will travel to Northwood for a 6 p.m. CST tipoff on Thursday, Feb. 24.
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.
