Edwards scores 19, leads Purdue past Penn State
By KEITH CARRELL
ISL Correspondent
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. — Vince Edwards and Dakota Mathias used heady to help Purdue return to the win column late Wednesday night with 74-57 victory over Penn State.
Edwards scored a season high 19 points on 6 of 8 field goals, including 4 of 4 from three point range.
“I felt like I shot the ball with confidence” Edwards said. “I credit my teammates for finding me.”
Edwards also had his best all-around game of the season as he chipped in five rebounds and a steal without a turnover and distributed the basketball well.
Mathias continued his strong play of late, continuing to be a capable defender while also taking care of the ball and being selective with his shots. He did not commit a turnover, but did net six points on 2 of 3 field goals, grabbed five rebounds, and had four of Purdue’s 15 assists. If Mathias continues to play this well, he’ll continue to chip away at Kendall Stephens’ minutes. Stephens only played nine minutes against Penn State.
Here are the game highlights from Purdue Athletics:
So. Many. Highlights. #RememberTheName https://t.co/iYIr3L9yHH
— Purdue Basketball (@BoilerBall) January 14, 2016
Penn State kept it a back-and-forth contest early in the game until the game was tied 7-7. Purdue then went on an 11-2 run and controlled the game for the rest of the contest. Penn State’s Brandon Taylor had a terrific night on offense (21 points) and Purdue seemed incapable of stopping him, but he was in constant foul trouble and had to play cautious in his limited minutes to avoid fouling out.
Each time Taylor went to the bench with foul trouble, Purdue widened the margin. Penn State coach Pat Chambers rolled the dice late in the first half and reinserted Taylor with two fouls to try to keep the Nittany Lions in the game, but Taylor quickly picked up his third foul.
One of Purdue’s starters, A.J. Hammons, did not have a good night, especially in the first half where he scored only five points (2-for-4 FG, 1-for-4 at the line) and missed a couple of front ends on one-and-one free throw attempts. He also committed three uncharacteristic turnovers, two in the first half. Had he had even an average night, Purdue would have put this game away earlier. Hammons did bounce back a little in the second half where he had eight points and four rebounds, although he missed his only two free throw attempts.
The center position wasn’t all bad, though. Isaac Haas had an efficient night as his play improved coming off of the bench for the third straight game. He played only 14 minutes, but scored 14 points on 5-for-6 field goal shooting.
“I felt like I was in a bit of a funk, I honestly couldn’t tell you why,” Haas said. “I came in and got shots up all the time… Now it’s just starting to come back to me and all my hard work is starting to pay off.”
Quick Hits:
Hammons had two blocks to become just the 7th player in Big Ten history (2nd at Purdue) to earn 300 career blocked shots… Penn State was without normal starter Josh Reaves who was ill, Davis Zemgulis started in his stead… Neither team shot well from the foul line, Penn State went a combined 4-8 (50%) while Purdue went 12-19 (63%) with a number of the misses being front ends of one-and-ones… Caleb Swanigan overcame an underwhelming first half to nearly earn a double-double with 13 points and nine rebounds… Purdue out-rebounded Penn State 42-25… Earlier in the day it was announced that the NCAA has moved the entry early deadline to 10 days after the NBA combine (this may have an impact on when Swanigan first declares)… The next game for Purdue is a rare Monday night conference tilt at Rutgers on Martin Luther King, Jr. Day… For those interested in free things, Purdue’s next home game against Ohio State at 9 pm on January 21st will be the free t-shirt game at Mackey.
