Purdue Gets Taste of its Own Medicine in Home Loss to Penn State
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. — We've seen this a lot at Mackey Arena this season, a team so red-hot shooting the ball that they dominate a game from start to finish. Usually, though, that's the Purdue Boilermakers.
No. 13-ranked Penn State had other ideas on Tuesday night, and blew out Purdue on its home court, winning 88-76 but leading by as much as 24 points in the second half. The Nittany Lions made 14 3-pointers on the night, 10 in the first half.
Penn State (19-5 overall, 9-4 in the Big Ten) came into the game as one of the hottest teams in America. The Nittany Lions now have won seven games in a row in the Big Ten — a school record and moved within a half-game of first-place Maryland in the conference race.
"Having seniors and leaders and guys who have been here really helps,'' Penn State coach Pat Chambers said. "I've been trying to win here for nine years, so this is great to finally beat these guys.''
It was a crushing loss for Purdue (14-11 overall, 7-7 in the Big Ten), which had been on a nice run itself lately, winning four of its last five games. They had three wins at home against ranked teams of 29 points or more, most in the country, but that Purdue team didn't show up Tuesday night.
"That's a really good team right there. They're ranked No, 13 in the country for a reason,'' Purdue center Matt Haarms said. "And they are a lot more than just Lamar Stevens. They go eight or nine deep, and they are very good.''
It's usually Purdue that shoots lights out in Mackey — they made 19 3-pointers against Iowa in a 36-poiint blowout in their last home game last Wednesday — but Penn State was the one on fire in the first half, knocking down 10 pointers early while Purdue missed all eight attempts.
Penn State forward Seth Lundy was the biggest culprit, hitting four 3-pointers and helping the Nittany Lions lead throughout the half. Purdue was within five points with just 2:18 left in the half, but Penn State ripped of the 9-2 run to close the half and take a 42-30 lead into the locker room.
They had another haymaker for the Boilermakers coming out of the locker room, reeling off the first 13 points over nearly 5 1/2 minutes to stretch the lead out to 55-32. Purdue hadn't trailed by 24 points at home all season.
Purdue got to within 14 with three free throws by Isaiah Thompson at the 8:38 mark, but could get no closer until Eric Hunter Jr. hit a 3-pointer with 2:18 left to make it 77-66. After a pair of Penn State free throws, Trevion Williams made a 3-ppinter and then Jahaad Proctor made two free throws to get it to 79-71 with 1:14 left.
Lamar Stevens made two more free throws, but then Aaron Wheeler scored on a drive and was fouled, cutting the lead to seven with 1:06 left.
But they couldn't get any closer, with Penn State making 13 of 14 free throws down the stretch.
Lundy finished 6-for-9 from 3-point range and Myles Dread added several daggers himself, making 4-of-5 from deep. Lundy had 18 points on the night, and Dread finished with 12.
Purdue also didn't have an answer for 6-foot-9 senior Mike Watkins inside either. He made 9-of-12 shots, all from close range, and finished with a team-high 18 points Harrar (13) and Stevens (14) were in double figures
This was Penn State's fourth conference road win in a row, something they've never done in their 27 years in the Big Ten. They've also won at Michigan State, Nebraska and Michigan.
Trevion Williams led Purdue with 17 points.
Penn State has back-to-back home games next against Northwestern (Saturday and Illinios (next Tuesday), while Purdue hits the road to play Ohio State on Saturday in a game that now takes on added significance after this home loss.
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Box score: Penn State 88, Purdue 76
