Crowd carries Purdue over Indiana
By JAMES HOWELL, Jr.
ISL Purdue Beat Writer
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. — The Purdue Boilermakers truly had a sixth man on the court against their fiercest rival Indiana on Wednesday night.
Of course, this is metaphorically speaking to the capacity crowd of 14,846 standing loyal behind the Boilermakers throughout the night. With the home crowd behind them, the Boilermakers rolled to an 83-67 win over the Hoosiers.
Before tip-off, the Paint Crew was ready. The night before dozens of groups of students slept outside of Mackey Arena in anticipation for the game, which wouldn’t start until 9 p.m. local time.
They waited though.
Finally when time came for tip-off, they knew it was go time.
The Boilermakers would win that tip, but fail to score on their first possession. The Hoosiers drove down the court against ear-ringing screams from the Purdue faithful and turned the ball over. Purdue charged right back down the court and freshman Dakota Mathias gave the Boilermakers sixth man something to cheer for. He drained a 3-point shot to put the Boilermakers ahead for good. From the 19:10 mark of the first half until the final horn sounded, the Boilermakers fans had something to cheer for. Their pride and joy disposed of the No. 21 Hoosiers.
Purdue coach Matt Painter hit on the significance of the fans at Mackey Arena.
“Our crowd was unbelievable,” he said. “It was probably the best crowd we’ve had here in three years. We get to feed off of that.”
Painter admitted that the crowd has to have something to cheer for though. He believed his players gave the fans something to cheer for.
Junior center A.J. Hammons certainly gave the fans something to get off their feet for. Hammons set a new career high with eight blocks in the game.
“It was really just me being in position,” Hammons said. “I just really needed to go out there and do what my team needed me to do.”
Hammons added 11 points and three rebounds to his stat line from the starting center spot.
Raphael Davis again led the Boilermakers in scoring with 19 points, and Bryson Scott added 11.
The game was a breakout for Scott, who had played just four minutes over the past five games. He was proud of himself, but not as proud as Davis was for his close friend and teammate.
“I’m happy for him,” Davis said. “I’ve known him since we were little kids and I know how he is. To see him keep his head in it and fight through this and come out like he did tonight, like I said, I’m proud of him.”
The Boilermakers will now roll into last place Northwestern on Saturday and look to keep momentum on their side following back-to-back victories over top 25 teams. That game is scheduled for a 6 p.m. tip.
