La Porte, IN - It was a come from behind victory for the PNC men's basketball team at the La Porte Civic Auditorium Tuesday evening. The Panthers improve to 1-5 gaining the first win of the season pulling out the 71-59 win.
Coach Schnatz said, "It was a great team effort tonight. We had nice contributions from all our guys. We need to continue to improve. We must carry this energy into Saturday's game."
Moody Bible Institute started off the game executing their offense to near perfection jumping out to an early 10-0 lead. Moody soon pushed the lead to 16-4 early in the first half.
The great start was in large part to Moody's big man Jacob Crabtree who only missed 4 shots on the night going 11-15 from the field. He scored 24 points, grabbed 14 rebounds, blocked 3 shots, and had 3 steals. Steve Harrison a crafty guard had a solid night adding 17 points.
The Panthers made a 12 to 1 run midway through the first half, putting the score at 16-17 in favor of Moody. By half-time the Panthers were up 37-33. Moody cut into the Panther lead making it 41-40 early in the second half.
The Panther's battle back pushing the lead to 58-52, and eventually the winning by twelve points thanks to Moody's attempt to steal and foul near the end of the game. This allowed the Panther to shoot free throws finishing 18-28 from the charity stripe, good for 72%.
The Panther run had much to do with containing Moody's two skilled guards Harrison and Parish. Harrison was forced into 8 turnovers, and held to 0 rebounds. Parish was held to only 3 made field goals all in the first half.
On the offensive end, Nick Neal, Jordan Wiseman, and Jordan Delks all scored in double figures for Purdue-University North Central. Nick Neal led the team in scoring with 23 points, going 8-16 from the field, and 4-6 from three-point territory. He also led the game with 6 assists, grabbed 3 rebounds, and stole the ball 3 times.
Nick Neal comments on the Panther win, "Today's win is the something that PNC Basketball needed. We started off slow, and eventually got it going in the second half. If we can put 40 minutes of complete basketball together it will be hard for anyone to compete with us. Coach Schatz will keep pushing us everyday to become a better team."
The double-double man of the night for the Panthers was Jordan Wiseman. He was a stat stuffer scoring 21 points, pulling down 11 rebounds, stealing the ball 4 times, dishing out 3 assists, and blocking 1 shot. Not to mention he went a perfect 10-10 from the free throw line.
Jordan Wiseman comments on the Panther win, "There's a ton of room for improvement, but I believe that the sky is the limit for this team. We came out incredibly flat at the start. It wasn't our best performance, but we came together as a team and managed to get our first win."
Junior captain Jordan Delks rounded out the double figure scoring for the Panthers. He added 12 points making 4 three pointers, snatching 3 rebounds, and passing for 1 assist on the night. Delks shots 4-10 from the three-point line.
Jordan Delks comments on the Panther win, "It was a good first win for us. A lot of guys stepped up in key situations. It was good to see the team battle through the rough start for the win. We executed Coach's game plan, and now we can use this momentum for our next home game this Saturday against IU Northwest."
The Purdue-University North Central Panthers are home again this Saturday evening November 27, 2010 at 7:00 pm against IU Northwest (1-8). Home games are played at the La Porte Civic Auditorium 1001 Ridge Street La Porte, IN 46350-4227.
