WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. – Senior Bence Kotel shot even par or better for a third-consecutive tournament and tied for eighth place on Tuesday at the Purdue Fall Invitational. Kotel's performance helped Toledo to an eighth-place finish with a team score of 879 at the par-72, 7,465-yard Kampen-Cosler Golf Course.

"Bence worked hard over summer as well as this fall and his play is flourishing as a result," Head Coach Jeff Roope said. "He reminds me of Jamie Butler from last year and Jamie Tofte Nielsen from a couple of years ago. There's a certain self-awareness that the guys reach when they understand their game and the shots that they're capable of and how to best play their game. It's a real pleasure to see that when it happens."

The Rockets shot their best round of the tournament with a one-under par 287 thanks to Kotel's second three-under par 69 of the tournament. He finished tied for eighth individually with a two-under par 214 and tied for first place in the field in par-four scoring at four-under par. Toledo shot three-under on the back nine as a team in the final round.

"It's nice to see us playing well in spurts and it shows us what we're capable of," Roope said. "That's why we have the expectations we do for these young men. We just need to play with more consistency to get the success we want."

Junior Mason Deal carded UT's second-best round of the day with an even-par 72, while senior Mads Jensen and junior Solomon Petrie each shot a one-over par 73. Petrie tied for 13^th place with an even-par 216.

Purdue captured the tournament title at 25-under par, 19 strokes ahead of second-place Butler. Southern Illinois' Anthony De Schutter earned medalist honors at six-under par.

Toledo will conclude its fall season next week at Dayton's Flyer Invitational in Kettering, Ohio on Monday-Tuesday, Oct. 20-21.

TEAM STANDINGS
1. Purdue 282-276-281=839 (-25); 2. Butler 286-292-280=858 (-6); 3. Oakland 288-289-290=867 (+3); 4. Illinois State 296-285-289=870 (+6); 5. Nebraska 292-288-292=872 (+8); 6. Northern Illinois 300-293-282=875 (+11); 7. Southern Illinois 292-285-300=877 (+13); 8. TOLEDO 296-296-287=879 (+15); 9. Western Kentucky 298-297-285=880 (+16); 10. Ball State 297-296-293=886 (+22); 11. Loyola (Chicago) 299-296-297=892 (+28); 12. Ohio 297-296-300=893 (+29); 13. South Dakota State 298-299-302=899 (+35); 14. Purdue Fort Wayne 298-302-306=906 (+42); 15. Valparaiso 317-300-297=914 (+50)

TOP FIVE PLAYERS
1. Anthony De Schutter (SIU) 73-67-70=210 (-6); 2. Will Harvey (Purdue) 70-71-70=211 (-5): T3. Sam Easterbrook (Purdue) 75-70-67=212 (-4); T3. Kentaro Nanayama (Purdue) 71-67-74=212 (-4); T5. TJ Bargar (ISU 73-68-72=213 (-3); T5. Devin Swoyer (NIU) 72-71-70=213 (-3); T5. Leo Zurovac (Butler) 72-71-70=213 (-3)

TOLEDO INDIVIDUALS
T8. Bence Kotel 69-76-69=214 (-2); T13. Solomon Petrie 73-70-73=216 (E); T46. Mads Jensen 79-72-73=224 (+8); T72. Mason Deal 75-87-72=234 (+18); T76. Julius Lange 88-78-73=239 (+23)