Purdue fends off late Butler rally

Without Isaac Haas, Purdue played fine for the most part.

Until the last few minutes, when the Boilermakers’ season nearly slipped away.

“We lost our poise there, but then we also regained it,” coach Matt Painter said. “And Dakota Mathias made a huge shot.”

Mathias sank a threepointer with 14.2 seconds left, and second-seeded Purdue held off 10th-seeded Butler 76-73 on Sunday at Detroit to reach the Sweet 16 for the second consecutive year.

Haas, the 7-foot-2 center who broke his elbow in Friday’s win over Cal State Fullerton, did not play, but the Boilermakers prevailed anyway despite a late push by their in-state rivals.

Purdue led by as many as 10 points in the second half, but Butler cut the deficit to two and had the ball in the final minute.

Kelan Martin missed a three-pointer, and the Boilermakers were able to settle down.

The shot by Mathias made the score 76-71.

“Once it left my hand it felt pretty good,” Mathias said. “Those last couple of minutes we kind of got out of our element, forcing some things offensively, not making the right read, to let them back in.

“Give Butler a lot of credit. They played hard. They’re a good team. We’re excited to come out with a win.”

Martin scored with 2.1 seconds remaining, and P.J. Thompson missed the front end of a one-and-one, giving Butler another chance. The Bulldogs called a timeout with 1.8 seconds left, and Kamar Baldwin’s shot from near midcourt hit the rim — although it may have been waved off on a review even if it had gone in.

Purdue faces thirdseeded Texas Tech on Friday in Boston.

West Virginia 94, Marshall 71: Jevon Carter scored 28 points, Lamont West added 18 off the bench and the Mountaineers overwhelmed their in-state rival at San Diego.

Bigger, more physical and making fewer mistakes, the fifth-seeded Mountaineers took control with a 19-0 first-half run.

West Virginia will face top-seeded Villanova on Friday in Boston.

“We did it for the state,” West said. “We just wanted to go out there and play hard. We knew that we didn’t want to go home with [a loss] and we did what we could do.”

Aside from his scoring, Carter was the leader of West Virginia’s swarming defense that made the night miserable for the 13thseeded Herd.

Marshall star Jon Elmore had more turnovers than points in the first half and was held to 15 points.