REC CENTER – Jay Harmas (North Central) stole the ball deep in Bethel’s end of the court with 1:25 to play. Harmas blew past the defense, got to half court, fired the ball to Steve Polak (Clark) who was sprinting towards the free throw line. Polak caught the ball and flipped it ahead on his left to Lawrence Sandlin (Bishop Noll) who slipped past his defender for a layup and cut the Bethel lead to 74-70 with 1:18 left.But the Peregrines (0-1) could not close the gap during the final seconds of the contest losing 81-75 to the Pilots (1-0). Bethel College hit six of seven free throws in the final 53 seconds and added a 3-point play for the win. The Pilots made 14 more trips to the free throw line than Purdue University Calumet and hit 29 of 39 (74.4 percent) for the game and spoiled the home opener in front of a nearly packed house.

Minuyard Wheeler (Wirt) led all scorers with 19 points, 17 in the second half. Wheeler shot 7 of 10 from the field. Marcus Ford, (Wirt) in his PUC debut, added 13 points, five assists and three steals. Charles Cruz (Gavit) scored 10 of his 12 points in the second half, with four rebounds. Polak (Clark) was perfect from the free throw line 4-4, with 11 points, three steals.

In the second half, the Peregrines matched the Pilots scoring 47 points each. The margin of victory ended up being the six point deficit at halftime. It was the closest finish for PUC in the last five years against Bethel.

“We played extremely hard in the second half and we forced them into more turnovers, but we couldn’t capitalize on enough of their errors,” Head Coach Mike James said. “We were sloppy with the ball in the first half with 15 turnovers and you can’t be that sloppy against a team like Bethel.”

Both squads played sluggish at times in the opening half and forced the ball on the offensive ends of the court. The Pilots had 17 first half errors and finished with 30, while the Peregrines limited their mistakes to a mere four in the second half.

The Peregrines host East-West University, Chicago, Thursday, beginning at 7 p.m.