Penn State Surges As Purdue Goes Cold

Penn State Surges as Purdue Goes Cold

written by: Steven Stremming, Excel H Sports/USBWA

What started out at Bryce Jordan Arena, the home of the B1G Ten’s Penn State Nittany Lions was your typical Purdue start where they bolted out to a five, zero lead behind a free throw from Trey Kaufman-Renn and a trey by Fletcher Loyer and another Kaufman-Renn charity toss at the 17:49 mark in the first half.

Purdue would not score for the next two plus minutes as the Nittany Lions fought back behind Donavan “Puff’ Johnson and Freddie Dillion V’s baskets and narrowed the gap to one point.

Purdue would get back on the board when Fletcher Loyer connected on back-to-back free throws putting the Boilers up by three at the 15:34 mark.

Penn State’s Zack Hicks would tie the score at seven a piece with a three-point shot at the 15:03 mark left in the first half.

The game would see-saw back and forth until the critical 13:59 mark when Purdue’s Giacarri Harris gave Purdue their last lead of the night when he layed in a basket from a Braden Smith assist.

From there to the 8:51 mark in the first half Purdue would go silent as they could not score as Penn State steadily increased their margin.

The play of Adrian “Ace” Baldwin, Jr., Nick Kern, Jr. and Johnson along with Dillion opened up a ma3rgin the Boilers could never overcome to the delight of the 8,802 Nittany Lion faithful.

For the night Penn State placed five players in double-figures led by Baldwin’s 17, which included a perfect 12 of 12 night from the line and a team-high six assists.

Freddie Dillion V added 14 on six of eleven from the floor, Johnson’s 13, on four of nine from the floor, five boards and four steals, Nick Kern, Jr.’s twelve (12) on four of six from the floor, eight rebounds, and three steals and assists and Zack Hicks 11 points.

Purdue was led by Kaufman-Renn’s 15 points on five of eight from the floor, but he turned the ball over a team-leading seven times.

Fletcher Loyer added 15 points on five of seven from the floor to tie high scoring honors.

C. J. Cox scored 12 off the bench while no one else reached double-figures for the Boilers.

Braden Smith  added six points with five assists, Brian Waddell five points, Harris’ four points, Raleigh Burgess four points and Cam Heide’s three steals and rebounds.

Penn State moves to eight and one (8-1) on the season while Purdue drops to seven and two (7-2) on the season. Penn State begins the B1G Ten season with their first win while Purdue drops to zero and one (0-1).

Purdue turned the ball over a whopping 24 times while Penn State recorded 14 steals.