Purdue used a big second half run to put away underdog Penn State
The Boilers forced Penn State’s Tony Carr into a rough 4-18 shooting night as they advanced to tomorrow’s Big Ten Tournament Finals against Michigan.
Carsen Edwards continued his red hot scoring with 27 points on 9-18 shooting. The night before against Rutgers he scored 26 points.
The Boilers jumped out in the first half but the resilient Nittany Lions eventually pushed the lead to as much as 7 points. Shep Garner torched the Boilers defense for 15 points in the first half. But a sequence of events near the end of the half proved to be Penn State’s undoing. Up seven with 3:37 left in the half, Penn State had a stretch that would make a horror movie seem tame. There were two missed layups, a turnover and a technical on Penn State coach, Pat Chambers. Purdue would go from seven down to up two, ending the half on a 12-3 run.
“We took a couple of tough shots. Carsen Edwards, again, went on a little mini run on his own to end the half.” – Coach Patrick Chambers
In the second half, the Boilers wouldn’t let Penn State get over the hump. After the Nittany Lions cut the lead to 4, Purdue went on a game sealing run. In a span of 5:38, Purdue would outscore Penn State 15-4 pushing the lead up to 15. It would get as high as 18 points after a Carsen Edwards three pointer.
With Carr having a tough evening Shep Garner took over. He shot 8-11 from the field finishing with a game high 33 points.
“I knew I didn’t want this to be my last game tonight. And I told my teammates, you know, I’ll give it everything I’ve got to win”.
But without Carr there to help on offense, Penn State couldn’t get over the hump in the second half. In regards to how the Boilers were able to limit Carr on offense, Coach Chambers said “I think they were very physical. Obviously that’s why I felt like I needed to get T’ed up, my first T in a long, long time”.
Purdue advances to play Michigan in the finals, a team they’ve already beaten twice this season by a combined 5 points.
