1/31/2019 basketball Edit

It wasn't pretty, but Purdue survives yet again at Penn State

Brian Neubert • BoilerUpload

GoldandBlack.com staff

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As has become a semi-annual tradition, Purdue hung on for dear life at Penn State, got tied up in a thriller and stole one from the Nittany Lions in most heart-wrenching fashion for the home team.

The 17th-ranked Boilermakers, now winners of nine of 10, beat Penn State in overtime, 99-90.

Carsen Edwards scored 38, Ryan Cline 20, and Trevion Williams and Nojel Eastern came up big in the extra session at both ends of the floor.

It was the third-straight meeting between Purdue and Penn State at the Bryce Jordan Center to go to OT.

"(Josh) Reaves looked at me at the start of overtime and said, 'Man, I don't know why this always happens between us,'" Cline said. "It happens every year."

Penn State, which trailed by as many as 17 in the first half, took its first lead of the game with 58 seconds left in regulation on Rasir Bolton's jumper from the corner.

But Edwards tied the game with five seconds left in regulation on a drive to the basket, so easy Penn State will be kicking itself for allowing it, to force overtime. The Lions had a chance to win it at the buzzer, but Nojel Eastern blocked Rasir Bolton's potential buzzer-beating three.

"We kind of felt we had momentum going in, getting that layup at the end to tie it up then also that block," Edwards said of overtime. "We felt like we had momentum going in, but we just looked at it as some extra time to compete."

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In OT, Purdue dominated, making its first three shots and holding Penn State to 1-of-7 shooting, its only field goal in the extra session coming with the game out of reach.

"We were really focused in the overtime," Coach Matt Painter said. "We did some really good things at the defensive end and got some stops and made some plays."

The key play in OT: A four-point play by Edwards that came off him drawing a reach-in foul before he heaved the ball up from well beyond the arc, and made it.

"I've done that a few times this year," Edwards said, "just ripped through with their hand out like that to get my shot up, just to try to get to the free throw line. Seeing it go in was a big help."

At the start of the game, Purdue came out on a tear, with Edwards burying four quick threes as part of an early Boilermaker shooting onslaught that built a lead that peaked at 17 in the first half.

But on the back of 13 second-chance points off offensive rebounds and 8-of-15 three-point shooting — when it came in shooting less than 27 percent in Big Ten play — Penn State used a 19-5 run to get within three points before Aaron Wheeler beat the halftime buzzer with a banked-in three. Purdue lead 50-44 at halftime, having allowed 44 points to a Penn State team that came in averaging just 61.6 during its winless Big Ten season prior.

Penn State pushed Purdue to its limit for most of the second half before finally breaking through to take the lead in the final minute, thanks in part to a run of Boilermaker turnovers, but despite some key shots from noted Penn State scourge Cline.

Cline, who beat Penn State in OT at the Bryce Jordan Center two years ago and made key shots in a narrow win in Mackey Arena against the Lions last season, made a series of second-half threes that Purdue clearly wouldn't have won without. They came when the Boilermakers were battling just to keep the slimmest of leads intact, and at a juncture when the visitors struggled to get defensive stops.

Cline's 20 points came on just eight shots. He took seven threes and made six of them.

"I felt like I was kind of in my own world I guess you could say," Cline said. "There were times I was getting looks and it didn't matter where it was from, five feet behind the line, it didn't matter, it felt good coming off my hand."

Purdue won despite getting outrebounded 41-32, giving up 18 offensive rebounds that contributed to Penn State's 23 second-chance points.

Trevion Williams added 10 points for Purdue, four in overtime, along with a rebound and a block in the extra session.

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Nojel Eastern grabbed 10 rebounds and went 8-for-8 from the foul line, 6-for-6 in overtime.

Again, an opponent intentionally put Eastern at the foul line and again he threw it back in its face, for the third time this season and second game in a row.

"I'd love for them to continue to foul me," Eastern said. "Whatever I can do to just help my team win and I did that today."

It was a key win for Purdue in how it played out, but one from which it can draw some lessons in all that almost cost the Boilermakers a crippling setback just as it entered the Big Ten race in full.

Purdue shot 55 percent on the road, yet nearly lost because of another outlier shooting game from a previously mediocre shooting team — Penn State shot 41 percent from three; they've shot under 30 in Big Ten play — but you can probably credit Penn State for that more than indicting Purdue.

But the Boilermakers turned the ball over too much and struggled badly to get needed stops when they mattered most.

"We put them to the free throw line too much," Painter said. "We have to do a better job of making our opponent earn it, making tough shots, especially tough twos, over us. ... When it gets called really tight, we have to get in better position, show our hands and not let them get to the free throw line so much."

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