Box Score

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind.. – In a near repeat of Thursday's exhibition loss at the University of Minnesota, the Northern State University men's basektball team hung with Division I Purdue University through much of the first half before letting the Boilermakers pull away in the second half to take an 81-61 victory over the Wolves in exhibition basketball action.
    The Wolves were led by 18 points from Mitch Boeck.  The junior guard scored 14 of those points in the second half.  Junior Robert Thomas added ten points in his best performance since returning from an ankle injury that kept him out of NSU's first exhibition game of the year.
    NSU started out strong, holding as much as a 4-point lead at the 11-minute mark of the first half before the Boilermakers took back the lead for good with ten minutes left in the period.  Purdue would stretch that lead to as many as eight, but a persistant Wolves squad clambered its way back to within five at 29-24 with just over two minutes left.
    Purdue, however, would go on a 6-0 run to end the period up by 11 and a 12-1 run through the first four minutes of the second half to take control of the game.  NSU would get no closer than 15 the rest of the way.
    The Boilermakers, who forced 21 Wolves turnovers, got a game-best 22-point, 14-rebound double-double from center JuJan Johnson.
    NSU will return home to prepare a busy opening week of the season.  The Wolves take on Mount Marty College in the season opener on Nov. 18 before taking on Jamestown College on Nov. 20 and Presentation on the 21st.  All three contests will be played in Wachs Arena.