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Purdue Men Struggle In Crunch Time In Loss To Marquette

Casey Abbett
/
WBAA

The Purdue men's basketball team had won all of its meetings against the Marquette Golden Eagles prior to Wednesday's game. They were a perfect 9-0, dating back to early last century. That streak, like Purdue's home win streak that was snapped against Texas last weekend, came to an end as Purdue fell 65-55 in Milwaukee.

Marquette boasts one of the best scorers in the land, Markus Howard, who sat at the top of the NCAA  scoring list last season. He opened this season scoring 38 points on his way to becoming Marquette's all-time leading scorer. It was his supporting cast, however, that carried the day against the Boilers, led by Koby McEwan, who scored a game-high 23 points.

Neither team shot the ball well. Purdue made just more than a third of its shots (and only 25 percent from beyond the three-point stripe), while the Golden Eagles shot just 39 percent. Free throws offered an even bigger disparity. The Boilermakers hit just nine of 21 attempts as Marquette netted twice as many points from the charity stripe on 75 percent shooting.

Still, Purdue built an 18-point lead midway through the first half, only to see Marquette outscore them 40-17 in the second stanza -- the last six minutes of which did not feature a Purdue field goal.

Purdue had foul trouble for the entirety of the game. Nojel Eastern, the team's best wing defender, played limited minutes due to picking up three first half fouls. Swingman Aaron Wheeler fouled out after struggling yet again, scoring just six points on the night.

Center Matt Haarms led the Boilers with 14 points, eight rebounds and three blocked shots. Fifth year transfer Jahaad Proctor tallied 13 points of his own.

Purdue will return home Saturday night to play Chicago State in an attempt to stop thier winless streak at two games.

Casey Abbett is a senior at Purdue from LaCrosse, Indiana, and has been been interning as a sports reporter for WBAA since his freshman year.