Purdue Captures Share Of Big Ten Hoops Title By Winning 12 Of Last 13

State College, PA, United States (AHN) – For the first time in 14 years, Purdue is back on top of the Big Ten Conference.

The Boilermakers scored a 64-60 road victory over the Penn State Nittany Lions to wrap up a share of the Big Ten title. Purdue never trailed in the contest, but had to withstand a furious Penn State rally in order to seal the victory.

“It was something that Penn State had done all year; they’ve always made runs,” Purdue coach Matt Painter said. “They’ve continued to fight and we knew we had to step up and do a better job defensively. We knew it was going to be tough down the stretch.”

In fact, Purdue’s entire season was “tough down the stretch.”

The Boilermakers won 12 out of their final 13 games – and needed all of those wins – to take a share of the conference (Ohio State also finished with a conference record of 14-4).

“(Winning the Big Ten) is just a great feeling,” Painter said. “It’s good to see that locker room and see all the smiles on their faces because they know this was a team effort. Our guys hung in there and were able to win two out of (the last) three in order to get a share of the Big Ten title.”

Wrapping up the conference on Saturday was also a team effort, as Purdue shot 48.9 percent from the field.

Forward JaJuan Johnson and guard Keaton Grant paced the team’s offensive attack by scoring 21 and 17 points, respectively.

“Keaton Grant is someone who has played like an All-Conference guy,” Painter said. “He stepped up tonight and made some huge three’s for us when we really needed it. JJ (Johnson) did a great job. JJ really was something. We always try to get him a lot of touches and get the ball to him.”

Painter was also quick to point out a few of his players who came off the bench to contribute to the win over Penn State.

“John (Hart) does a lot of good things off the bench; he can make a shot when you need him to,” Painter said. ”Barlow came up with some big rebounds; he’s a talented kid with some upside because he’s always showing you flashes of the kind of things he can do.”

With Penn State locked into the 11th and final slot in the Big Ten tournament, the Nittany Lions were simply playing for pride against the Boilermakers. Penn State coach Ed DeChellis indicated that he was encouraged by his team’s effort in a “nothing to gain” situation.

“I told the kids after we’ve been giving ourselves a chance,” DeChellis said. “It hasn’t been easy, bad things have happened in terms of the ball bouncing the wrong way, but our kids have hung in there and they’ve continued to fight.”

---