The Purdue University Calumet men’s basketball team wasn’t able to overcome a hot-shooting Ohio Christian team in Saturday’s 83-61 loss in the consolation contest of the Ness Bros. Hall of Fame Tournament.
Purdue Calumet (1-3) trailed the Trailblazers (4-2) – the 2014 National Christian College Athletic Association (NCCAA) national champions – by a score of 47-34 at the half in the contest, held at Huntington University’s Platt Arena.
Senior Noah Allen (Flora, Ind./Carroll) led the Peregrines with 13 points, four assists and two steals and freshman Morgan Booher (Greenwood, Ind./Greenwood Christian) added a career-best 11 points on 3 of 6 shooting from the field. Junior Ryan Rader (Lombard, Ill./Willowbrook) rounded out the Peregrine players in double figures with 10 points on 5 of 10 shooting.
The Peregrines shot 44.4 percent (20 of 45) from the field compared to 59.6 percent (34 of 57) for Ohio Christian The Trailblazers also held the advantage at the 3-point line, making 10 of 23 (43.5 percent) compared to a 2 of 9 (22.2 percent) for Purdue Calumet.
Senior Kaspars Brencans (Riga, Lativa/Florida Air Academy) added nine points and Andis Malahovskis (Cesis, Latvia/Cesis City) added eight points while sophomore Danny Paschen (Schererville, Ind./Lake Central) again led the way on the boards with a game-high 13 rebounds.
Purdue Calumet returns to action Wednesday, Nov. 19, when the Peregrines open Chicagoland Collegiate Athletic Conference play with a 7 p.m. matchup with Olivet Nazarene. The game will follow the women’s contest, which begins at 5 p.m. The doubleheader will be Purdue Calumet’s “Pack the Place” event, where students are encouraged to wear black. Free pizza, courtesy of Papa John’s of Hammond, will also be provided for the first 150 students.