Sports News
Purdue Beats Washington 76-74
JaJuan Johnson totaled 22 points to help fifth-seeded Purdue down Washington, 76-74, and reach the Sweet 16 in the West Region of the NCAA Tournament.
E'Twaun Moore had 14 points and six assists while Lewis Jackson added 11 points for the Boilermakers (27-9), who barely slipped by Northern Iowa, 61-56, in the first round.
"Our team did a great job today coming out to play today from the jump," said Moore. "We knew they were a great team. We knew we had to come out with a lot of energy. And we came out with the victory."
Purdue will play top-seeded Connecticut, which dominated Texas A&M on Saturday, in the regional semifinals on Thursday in Glendale, Arizona.
Isaiah Thomas had 24 points while Jon Brockman added 20 points and 18 rebounds for the fourth-seeded Huskies (26-9), who advanced to the second round with a 71-58 win over Mississippi State.
Holding an 11-point lead after 20 minutes of play, Purdue built its advantage to 44-30 on a Jackson layup a bit over one minute into the second half.
Washington, though, kept the contest close over the next several minutes and a 7-0 run got the Huskies within 58-54. Elston Turner capped the run as he faked a shot to get the defender to commit, then buried a three-ball from the left corner with 9:37 to play.
Thomas made it a two-point game, 60-58, on a pair of free throws with 7:13 to play, but a pair of Johnson buckets bookended two free throws from Chris Kramer, and Purdue held a 66-58 lead with under six minutes to play.
However, Brockman sank a layup and Thomas was fouled on a layup and drained the free throw to make it a 66-63 contest with a bit under five minutes to go.
Brockman tipped in a Thomas miss with 3:10 to play to make it a two-point game, but Moore countered with two from the line.
In the final two minutes, Washington got a reverse layup from Brockman with 1:36 to play that got the Huskies within 73-71, and they were poised to tie the game after Moore missed a three at the other end. But Johnson blocked a Thomas layup attempt and then swiped down a Quincy Pondexter jumper.
Moore again missed a bucket, but Thomas missed another layup attempt and with 13.5 seconds to play Moore was fouled.
"Those two drives it was open," said Thomas. "It's shots I usually made. I thought I got fouled but they didn't call it. And the second one it was too hard, the shots that usually go down and usually are successful."
Moore drained both of his shots from the line and Brockman countered with one- of-two free throws with 6.8 to play. But Moore made one free throw for a four- point lead with 5.5 to play as Purdue held on for the win.
"It was a constant effort to climb back into it," said Brockman. "We were getting better looks in the second half, it just came down to the fact that they made plays and we couldn't get stops when we needed to get them."
Holding an early four-point lead, the Boilermakers went on a 7-0 burst to take a 17-6 advantage as Moore drained a jumper close to the midway mark of the first half.
The Huskies later rallied with a 10-2 run, which was ended by a Thomas layup with 7 1/2 minutes to play, getting Washington within 22-18.
However, Moore countered with a three-pointer to kick-start a 13-3 run, and Keaton Grant's trey with just over four minutes left in the first half gave Purdue a 35-21 advantage.
Washington later scored five straight points to cut into its deficit, but Johnson's slam before the buzzer gave Purdue a 39-28 lead heading into the break.
NCAA College Basketball
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