Purdue 74, Penn State 70 (OT): Boilers Survive

That was fun right? I mean who doesn’t like a thriller against PENN FREAKING STATE.

We won, that’s what matters the most, it wasn’t pretty but it doesn’t hurt our chance for a B1G Ten Title or seeding for March.

The first half was pretty unbearable to watch. Both teams were awful from the field, I believe Purdue shot 28%, at one point we were 4 of 22. Down 4 going into halftime you could tell on Twitter we were freaking out a bit. We went into halftime down 33-29.

The first half was arguably our worst half since the Louisville game. Penn State is kind of a JV version of Louisville, freakishly long, really athletic, can protect the rim. Hope we don’t draw a team like that for round 1.

But, water started to level out in the second half for us. Biggie came out and scored a few buckets early on, but generally struggled with the more athletic Lions. No, Biggie didn’t get a double-double, he finished with 10 points and 9 rebounds, a very unBiggie type game. Carsen Edwards was downright dreadful in moments, but with all of that we still had an 8 point lead late in the second half.

No lead is safe for Purdue after the 4 minute timeout as we have learned over the years, this one was no different.

Tony Carr Carrved us up late in the game, pushing his team into overtime against us. We had no real answer for him. He was too quick and athletic for PJ. But, late PJ drew a huge charge on Carr. Mike Watkins gave us fits in the first half, but leveled out in the 2nd half, like much of Penn State’s team, minus Carr.

While they made the late push, it was Ryan Cline in OT to save our butts. With Purdue down 2, he drilled a long ball to make the score 69-68. Biggie draws a charge and BOOM another 3 by Cline to give us the 72-68 lead.

After Penn State made it 72-70, we worked the clock down late and gave Isaac Haas a chance to seal the game. He airballed, but the ball tipped out to PJ. With 2 seconds on the shot clock, Penn State FOULED us instead of forcing up the tough shot. They are a young team, young teams make those mistakes.

PJ iced the game with 2 free throws to make it 74-70.

It wasn’t pretty was it? I hope we are ready on Saturday or it could be a long one against Michigan. Boiler Up!