Field Level Media
Mar 3, 2018
Carsen Edwards scored 27 points as eighth-ranked Purdue advanced to the Big Ten tournament championship game with a 78-70 victory over seventh-seeded Penn State Saturday at Madison Square Garden in New York.
Edwards, who totaled 27 in Purdue's three-point win over Penn State on Feb. 18, reached double figures for the 16th straight game. The sophomore guard hit 9 of 18 shots and tied a season high by sinking six 3-pointers.
The second-seeded Boilermakers (28-5) won their fifth straight game and will face fifth-seeded Michigan in the title game on Sunday. Purdue won both meetings by a combined five points in January.
Purdue advanced to the title game for the second time in three seasons and fourth time overall. The Boilermakers won their only conference tournament by beating Ohio State in 2009.
Isaac Haas added 17 points as Purdue shot 52 percent and also made 11 of 21 3-pointers. Dakota Mathias chipped in 15 for Purdue.
Penn State's Shep Garner led all scorers with a career-high 33 points. After beating Northwestern and Ohio State in its first two tournament games, the Nittany Lions shot a season-worst 33.9 percent from the field.
Lamar Stevens added 14 but Tony Carr struggled most of the game. Carr missed his first six shots, was 4 of 18 from the field and finished with 12 points.
Josh Reaves, who hit the game-winning basket against Ohio State, was held scoreless and missed all nine shot attempts as Penn State was unable to advance to the title game for the second time and the first instance since 2011 when it last reached the NCAA Tournament.
Penn State was within 42-39 on a basket by Stevens with 16:02 left, but Purdue answered with a 14-3 run over the next five-plus minutes. A basket by Haas gave Purdue its first double-digit lead at 53-42 with about 11 minutes left as Penn State missed eight straight shots before a Carr basket on its next possession.
After Carr's shot stopped the drought, Purdue restored its double-digit lead on the next possession on a 3-pointer by Ryan Cline. Purdue then took a 59-44 lead on a 3-pointer by Carsen Edwards with 9:20 left shortly after a double technical foul was assessed to Haas and Penn State's Julian Moore.
-- Field Level Media