Purdue dances past Indiana for share of Big Ten crown
WEST LAFAYETTE, IND. >> No. 16 Purdue celebrated the perfect party on Senior Night.
Players danced around in blackand-gold confetti as the fans sung “We Are the Champions.” They climbed ladders and cut down nets. And they did it all by dethroning the defending Big Ten champs.
Dakota Mathis scored 17 points in the first half, Caleb Swanigan matched that total in the second and the Boilermakers pulled away from foul-prone Indiana for an 8675 victory Tuesday night to clinch a share of the conference crown and the top seed in next week’s conference tournament.
“Being able to knock off your rival at your home court for a Big Ten title is unbelievable,” Vince Edwards said after scoring 15 points. “It’s been awhile since they came here so we knew Mackey would be special tonight.”
The game went almost exactly according to Purdue’s script.
After getting the outside help it needed over the past few weeks, the Boilermakers (24-6, 13-4) won for the seventh time in eight games and broke a tie with the dreaded Hoosiers to claim a record-breaking 23rd conference crown.
Swanigan finished with 21 points and 10 rebounds for his 24th double-double of the season in what could have been his final home game. The sophomore dominated the middle after Indiana’s top two centers, Thomas Bryant and De’Ron Davis, were both called for their third foul less than 4 minutes into the second half.
Mathias scored 13 points during a crucial 19-6 first-half run that erased Indiana’s only lead of the game and turned a 17-14 deficit into a 33-23 lead. Mathias finished with 19 points and seven rebounds.
Now the Boilermakers can contemplate bigger plans.
A road win Saturday would give them the league’s outright championship. Three wins next week in Washington would give them the Big Ten Tourney title. And then they’ll be looking to make a deep NCAA Tournament run . DUKE 75, FLORIDA STATE 70 >> Freshman guard Frank Jackson Jackson scored a season-best 22 points and No. 17 Duke (23-7, 11-6 ACC) beat No. 17 Florida State (237, 11-6).
Amile Jefferson, playing in his final game at Cameron Indoor Stadium, added 14 points and 11 rebounds while Luke Kennard finished with 17 points for the Blue Devils.
Jayson Tatum added 15 points for Duke, which avenged a 16-point loss last month in Tallahassee, held Florida State 14 points below its scoring average and snapped a two-game losing streak that cost the Blue Devils a top-10 ranking but, according to Hall of Fame coach Mike Krzyzewski, does not qualify as a slump.
Dwayne Bacon scored 19 points and Xavier Rathan-Mayes had 15 for the Seminoles, who had their two-game winning streak snapped. OHIO STATE 71, PENN STATE 70 >> Jae’Sean Tate sank a layup with three seconds left to lift Ohio State to a win over Penn State.
Tate finished with 12 points and nine rebounds, Marc Loving added 14 and Trevor Thompson chipped in 11 for the Buckeyes (1713, 7-10 Big Ten) who won on the road for just the fourth time this season.
Penn State took the lead on a Tony Carr 3-pointer with nine seconds to play but Tate ran the court and found room underneath to hit the winning basket.
Carr finished with 21, Shep Garner notched 20 points and Lamar Stevens added 16 for Penn State (14-16, 6-11).