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Purdue Fort Wayne
IUPUI
Second Half Drought Costs Mastodons in Loss to IUPUI
12/31/2009 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Dec. 31, 2009
Fort Wayne, IN - After taking a 57-55 second half lead, IPFW went scoreless for over seven minutes as IUPUI pulled away for a 79-69 win over the Mastodons on Thursday afternoon at the Memorial Coliseum.
IPFW took that two-point lead on a 3-pointer by junior guard Zach Plackemeier at the 10:30 mark. IPFW didn't crack the scoreboard again until Plackemeier ended the scoring drought with a layup with 2:45 remaining.
During that stretch, IUPUI (10-5, 2-0) went on an 18-0 run highlighted by a personal 10-0 run by sophomore forward Alex Young. IPFW had no answer for the 6-6, Young. He finished the contest with a game-high 29 points.
Plackemeier finished with eight points over the final 2:45, but the damage had been done. He led the 'Dons in the 10-point loss with 16 points.
"Great job by IUPUI to come in and get a win under these circumstances, New Year's Eve and on the road," IPFW head men's basketball coach Dane Fife said following the contest. "I guess we didn't do a very good job of preparing our guys to execute our game plan and that's the bottom line. They're better than us at probably four out of the five positions, with that we've got to play good team defense and we didn't do that. We gave up fifty-one percent from the field and as a result IUPUI came out with a win. That's a good team. IUPUI is a very good basketball team."
IUPUI also got double-digit scoring from junior guard Leroy Nobles (17) and senior forward Billy Pettiford (15). IPFW was able to hold three-time Summit League player of the week Robert Glenn to just six points. He was saddled with foul trouble for most of the game.
IPFW got 15 points from junior guard Ben Botts who hit five 3-pointers in the contest. Senior forward Deilvez Yearby added 13.
IUPUI won the battle of the boards, 35-27.
With the loss, IPFW falls to 5-7 and 0-2 in Summit League play. The Mastodons will get right back to conference action, hosting Western Illinois on Saturday night at the Coliseum at 7:00 p.m. That game is the nightcap of a women's/men's doubleheader with the women's game beginning at 4:30 p.m.
~Dons~
