HOFFMAN ESTATES—The Chicago Invitational Challenge has returned to the Sears Centre for the 5th annual event after last year’s was held at the UIC Pavilion due to financial problems the building in Hoffman Estates was having last year at this time.Purdue is hoping to succ3eed fellow Big Ten member Norwester as CIC Champs and earned a Saturday night matchup with Richmond(5-1) in the Title game after overcoming a 1-of-13 shooting at the start as E’Twaun Moore and JaJuan Johnson led the Boilermakers past Southern Illinois 79-60.Moore finished with 31 points and nine rebounds while and Johnson added 18 as Purdue(5-0) earned a date with Richmond (5-1) in Saturday’s invitational championship game at the Sears Centre.The Salukis(2-3) led 13-7 lead, but saw the Boilers go on a 15-2 run to earn a 36-28 lead by halftime.It was all Purdue in the second half.SIU was topped by Justin Bocut with 18 points, while John Freeman and Carlson Fay had 15 and 10 points.

NOTES—This was just the third meeting between SIU and Purdue,and both team had fan support…..The Salukis will play Wright State for third place…..Illinois,Xavier,and Dayton were the other CIC champs in addition to NU.

LES