The Region News

Steinman scores season-high 26 off the bench to lead Men's Basketball over Illinois-Springfield

Junior Kai Steinman (Champaign, Ill./Ben Davis) scored a season-high 26 points off the bench to lead Purdue Northwest Men's Basketball over Illinois-Springfield in non-conference action on Saturday afternoon, 87-81.

The Basics

•    Records: Purdue Northwest (7-5,1-3), Illinois-Springfield (8-3)

•    Location: John Friend Court - Hammond, Ind.

•    Attendance: 300

Laborers Local 41 Player of the Game: Junior Kai Steinman (Champaign, Ill./Ben Davis) - Game-high 26 points, 7-of-9 from the field and 7-of-8 from deep.

Inside The Numbers

•    Senior Mikell Cooper (Milwaukee, Wis./Bradley Tech) added 19 points for the Pride.

•    Junior Obi Ezekwesili (Houston, Texas/Westside) chipped in ten points from the bench.

•    Purdue Northwest finished the game shooting 29-of-45 (64.4%) from the floor and went 12-of-17 (70.6%) from the three-point line.

•    Jack Weber led Illinois-Springfield with 22 points and grabbed three rebounds.

•    The Prairie Stars ended the contest going 28-of-55 (50.9%) from the field and shot 9-of-28 (32.1%) from behind the arc.

The Breakdown

•    Both teams battled back-and-forth in the first ten minutes of the first half.

•    The Prairie Stars took control of the game with four minutes until halftime leading 40-30.

•    The Pride fought back to make their deficit single digits heading into halfltime, 44-40.

•    Purdue Northwest continued to fight in the second half and retook the lead, 56-55, with less then twelve remaining in the game.

•    Steinman and Cooper hit key shots down the stretch to help off the Prairie Stars in the end, 87-81.

•    The Pride dominated the bench points scoring margin, 47-21.

•    Illinois-Springfield held a slight advantage in points in the paint, 34-30.

•    Purdue Northwest went 17-of-26 from the free-throw line during the game.

Up Next

•    The Pride continue home action when they host Indianapolis in non-conference play on Monday, December 19. Tip-off is set for 3:00 p.m. central time at John Friend Court.

Original source can be found here.