Men’s Basketball Shoots Their Way to Semifinals  (2/26/08)
Behind stellar shooting efforts the No. 2 Trolls posted a 92-64 victory over No. 7 Purdue University-North Central in the first round of the conference tournament. The 28-point victory was due in a large part to the team’s 63.2% (12 for 19) three-point accuracy.
 
The Trolls were definitely zeroed in on the basket as they drilled the long ball. Behind an 18-point first half effort by Kurt Gruppen, who was 5 for 6 from beyond the arc in the period, the Trolls rallied to a 49-22 half-time lead.
 
In the first period the Trolls took control of the game when they went on an 18-0 run over a six minute period to convert a one point lead to a 19-point advantage. That scoring gap widened even more in the final five minutes of the period when Trinity again out-scored Purdue-North Central 17-4.
 
In that first period the Trolls were 6 for 7 (85.7%) from three-point land and 63.0% from the field overall. They kept up the long-range shooting in the second half, matching the number of made treys in their 12 attempts.
 
Purdue-North Central was able to pick up their offense production in the second period, but did not gain any ground. The closest they got was 17 points and that was early in the half.
 
Overall for the game Trinity shot 57.4% while Purdue-North Central was 40.7%. Kurt Gruppen ended with 28 points, 21 of which came on three-pointers. Ross Stuursma shot 70.0% for the evening to end with 17 points. He also had five assists and four rebounds. Will Bruinsma connected on six of his ten shot attempts for 15 points. He added six assists to the team’s totals. Jonathan Huizinga was the high rebounder with seven boards while Michael Thompson handed out six assists.
 
The Trolls will host Cardinal Stritch University in a semi-final game on Thursday, February 28, at 7:00 pm.

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