Pioneers battle Purdue even for first half

UW-Platteville played Purdue to within 30-28 at halftime before the Big Ten's Boilermakers pulled away in the second half for a 78-46 exhibition game victory Wednesday night in West Lafayette, Ind.

"I was proud of our effort," Pioneer Coach Paul Combs said. "I thought we competed well."

The Pioneer first-half surge may have caught the Boilermakers by surprise.

"Overall, I thought Platteville played harder than we did (in the first half)," Purdue Coach Matt Painter said. "What they were trying to do, they did a better job. If we match athleticism, you can see the result. I think Paul did a great job in getting them ready."

The Boilermakers' Division I athleticism showed as they started with a 24-5 run to start the second half and pull away from the NCAA Division III Pioneers.

"In the first half, they came out a little light, and we came out pretty strong," said sophomore forward Kyle Tetschlag. "We weren't satisfied at halftime. We knew we had to play another 20 minutes. (Assistant Coach) Brandon Temperly said, 'no one remembers the halftime score,' but we just fell off."

Purdue's Carl Landry, an all-Big Ten performer who missed last season with an ACL injury, scored the first six points of the game as the Pioneers first shots came up short. Landry, the older brother of Wisconsin Badger Marcus Landry, had 13 points in each half.

"He's probably the best I've ever guarded," Tetschlag said. "We could have done more to go at him, but he's pretty good." 

The Pioneers' leading returner scorer and rebounder from last year, center Jeff Skemp, picked up two quick offensive fouls off the ball and spent all but four minutes of the first half on the bench. Gossens also picked up two first-half fouls trying to defend Landry, taking the Pioneers' starting front-line off the court.

"That's what pleased me the most about the first half is whom we had in there," Combs said. "Our bench came through and competed hard."

Despite the adversity, the Pioneers showed poise and came back against Purdue. UWP overcame an 11-3 deficit with a 9-0 run, taking its first lead on two Tetschlag free throws with 9:01 left in the first half. The Pioneers also led 14-13 and 16-15. The game was tied at 18 and again at 28. The Boilermakers Tarrance Crump made two free throws with 3.3 seconds to play for the 30-28 halftime lead.

Landry scored a basket and free throw, and Chris Lutz made a three-point basket 37 seconds into the second half, sparking a 15-0 Purdue run that broke the game open.

Purdue shot 51.4 percent in the second half and held the Pioneers to just four baskets in the final 20 minutes.

Freshman Mike Shaw led the Pioneers with 11 points, while the sophomore Tetschlag had nine. Crump added 12 points, and Marcus Green 10 to Landry's 26 for Purdue.

"We started out well, and we played hard against a good team," Tetschlag said. "Now we have to come out, work hard and get ready for our conference."

Combs was born in Lafayette and spent his first eight-plus years roaming the Purdue sidelines with Loyal W. "Doc" Combs, the Purdue team doctor for 40 years. He met Boilermaker Coach Painter through the Purdue basketball camps, and the two friends agreed to the exhibition game.

"I think we got a lot out of this game," Combs said. "We have some good teaching points, but also I think we got a lot off the court and our guys made some friends here."

SIDE NOTE: The Pioneers began their trip with a stop at the University of Illinois Tuesday. First-year UWP assistant coach Tyler Kastner came from Illinois, and gave the Pioneers a tour of the practice facility. Freshman guard Curt Hanson's grandfather then met the team at Assembly Hall and gave a very knowledgeable tour, appropriate since he was one of the arena's architects.

Written by then UW-Platteville sports information director, Paul Erickson.