The Purdue Northwest Men's Basketball team celebrated Senior Day when they took on Northern Michigan in GLIAC play on Saturday afternoon for their season finale. The went on to fall in a heartbreaker, 76-75.

Prior to the start of the game, Purdue Northwest Athletics and the Men's Basketball program honored and recognized their four seniors: Jules Bikoy (Fort Washington, Md./Friendly), Jailen Nelson (San Diego, Calif./Carlsbad), Detalian Brown (Chicago, Ill./Combine Academy), and Dalton Gayman (Nevada, Mo./Nevada).

The Basics

• Records: Purdue Northwest (6-23,3-17 GLIAC), Northern Michigan (19-9,13-7 GLIAC)
• Location: John Friend Court - Hammond, Ind.
• Attendance: 350

Inside The Numbers

• Junior Quinton McCullough (Champaign, Ill./Mahomet Seymour) notched another double-double to lead the Pride with a game-high 22 points and a career-high 16 rebounds off the bench.
• Senior Jules Bikoy (Fort Washington, Md./Friendly) notched 12 points and five boards.
• Junior Collin Albert (Cleveland, Ohio/Lutheran Highschool East) chipped in 11 points for Purdue Northwest off the bench.
• As a team, the Pride ended the game shooting 29-of-56 (51.8%) from the floor and went 5-of-19 (26.3%) from the three-point line. The team also recorded 15 assists with four steals on the defensive side.
• Dylan Kuehl led Northern Michigan with 18 points and grabbed eight boards.
• As a team, the Wildcats finished the contest going 28-of-61 (45.9%) from the field and shot 8-of-27 (29.6%) from behind the arc. They recorded 12 assists and nine steals.

The Breakdown

• Both teams started the game going back-and-forth the first eight minutes with the Pride holding a small 14-10 lead.
• Purdue Northwest gained some momentum with an 11-2 run to go up 25-12 with ten minutes remaining in the first half.
• The Pride grew their lead to 40-23 with four minutes left until halftime.
• Northern Michigan fought back and ended the first half with a single-digit deficit of 42-35 going into halftime.
• Purdue Northwest regained momentum coming out of halftime and grew their lead back to double-digits with a 65-51 advantage with 11 minutes left in the game.
• Northern Michigan then started to chip away at their deficit in the next seven minutes and make the score 75-70 with two-and-a-half minutes remaining in the contest.
• The Wildcats hit two free-throws to make it 75-72, then with a minute left, Northern Michigan hit two more free-throws to cut it to a one-point game, 75-74.
• After another Pride turnover, Purdue Northwest committed a shooting foul on Derek Merwick with 20 seconds left. He went on to make his two free-throws a give the Wildcats the lead, 76-75.
• Purdue Northwest had one final shot to win the game but a costly turnover would end the Prides chances and ultimately fall in the end in heartbreaking fashion, 76-75.
• The Pride bench outscored the Wildcats', 36-25.
• Purdue Northwest held a slim margin in second chance points, 12-8.
• The Pride ended the contest leading in fast break points, 16-6.
• Purdue Northwest outrebounded Northern Michigan, 35-26.

Post-Game Quote from Head Coach Boomer Roberts:
"Unfortunately, today was a microcosm of our season. We led for 35 minutes, outshot them from the field, and outrebounded the top rebounding team in the GLIAC. But we executed poorly down the stretch and didn't close"
"I'm thankful for our seniors, who put in a lot of work this season. I'm disappointed for them that we didn't get it done."