GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. - The William Jewell men's basketball withstood a furious late game rally to hang on for a 78-77 win over Purdue Northwest to win their season opener for the sixth year in a row. 

HOW IT HAPPENED

• After going without a field goal for nearly four minutes to open the game, the Cardinals went on a 18-3 run to go on top by nine. With just over four minutes to play in the opening period, Eli Wingert's three gave Jewell their largest lead of the day at 38-24. The Pride finished the half on an 11-2 run to cut the Jewell lead to 40-35 at the break. 
• Back-to-back buckets from Jordan Jermain and two free throws from Bryce Mitchell pushed the Cardinal advantage to 10 midway through the second half. PNW made a run to cut things down to just two but Kanukayi Gudza hit a three, followed by a slam from Jason Thirdkill, Jr. to expand it back to seven with under six minutes to go. Purdue Northwest's Collin Albert took over in the last five minutes, scoring nine points to lead the comeback effort for the Pride as they pulled within one with two seconds remaining but could not get another shot off. 

INSIDE THE BOX SCORE

• Thirdkill, Jr. led a balanced offense with 20 points while Bradley Lightbourne had 18 and Jermain 16. 
• Wingert picked up a double-double with 16 points and 10 rebounds to go with four assists, tied with Gudza for a team high. 
• Jewell shot 43% from the floor for the game while forcing 18 turnovers, leading to 22 points.  

UP NEXT
The Cardinals return to action quickly on Saturday with a 1:30 p.m. date with Davenport University.