Men drop a pair to ranked teams

The Jan. 19 game against Robert Morris University for Purdue men's basketball was similar to the tale of David and Goliath, but with a bitter twist at the end of the story.

Not even two minutes into the game and the RMU Eagles scored 7 points.

At the end of the first half RMU lead with 53 and PUC at 38. Their lead was maintained by a lot of the 3 point shots made by RMU. More than half of the Eagles scoring came from the first half of the game.

"It would have been nice to have played a little better defense around the 3 point arc," Coach Voudrie stated.

It was no surprise that RMU would do as well as they did, they are 3^rd in the country for the NAIA division. The team is led by guard Diante Watkins, who averages 24 points per game. On this night, however, PUC's defense managed to hold him relatively in check

"The guys did do a good job on Diante Watkins," Voudrie said. "We held him for 4 of 17 from the field, and 1 of 7 from the 3 point line. He is one of the best point guards in the country for his division line and that is something we really did want to not let him get off: his shots."

A couple bright spots for PUC were the individual efforts of guards Andrew Anderson and Alex Richman.  Both sustained injuries during the game, but despite being in pain, they went back out on the court and continued the fight against the Eagles.

Both managed to rack 21 points each for the team that night. Anderson showed his skills on the boards by making a game high of 12 rebounds.

"Andy is a very talented offensive player. He had a really solid scoring night and a great job on the boards," Voudrie said about his player. "He played very hard tonight."

Despite their best efforts, however, PUC would not be able to contain the Eagles. The final score was 100-74 in favor of Robert Morris.

The injuries sustained took their toll on PUC in their Jan. 21 game at 21st-ranked St. Xavier, who won easily 104-66.  The lone highlight for the black and gold was center Trent Tucker's 24 points.

Now 5-16, the PUC men travel to Elgin, Ill. to take on Judson on Jan. 25 before returning home against Purdue North Central on Jan. 28 at 3:00 p.m.