No. 24 Purdue owns paint in win over Penn State
No. 24 Purdue overwhelmed Penn State with its size Wednesday night.
Purdue 7-foot-2 center Isaac Haas, 7-foot center A.J. Hammons and 6-foot-9 forward Caleb Swanigan dominated inside to help the Boilermakers to a 74-57 win in Big Ten play at Mackey Arena. Purdue forward Vince Edwards scored a team-high 19 points, going 4 for 4 from beyond the arc to lead the team’s 8 for 21 3-pointer effort.
Haas scored 14 points, Swanigan added 13 points and nine rebounds and Hammons finished with 13 points and seven rebounds for the Boilermakers (15-3, 3-2).
Brandon Taylor scored a game-high 21 points to lead Penn State (10-8, 1-4) despite dealing with foul trouble. Donovon Jack scored a season-high 12 points, and Shep Garner finished with nine points, five assists and a season-high seven turnovers.
Penn State freshman forward Davis Zemgulis, who had two points and five rebounds, made his first career start in place of freshman guard Josh Reaves. Reaves missed the game due to illness, Penn State announced before the game.
Penn State had no answer for Haas early.
Haas went 4 for 4 from the field and scored 10 points in the first half. He completed a three-point play to push the Boilermakers ahead by seven just more than seven minutes into the game. He hit a bank shot from the right block on Purdue’s next possession and started to command the attention of the Penn State defense in the paint.
Haas’ turnaround bank shot over Penn State center Jordan Dickerson was the final field goal of the half, giving the Boilermakers a 38-25 lead.
Purdue grabbed nine offensive rebounds and outrebounded Penn State 23-11 in the first 20 minutes.
Three minutes into the second half, Hammons received a pass in the post and hit a shot over the 6-foot-6 Taylor to push the Boilermakers ahead 46-28. Taylor picked up his fourth foul less than two minutes later with the Nittany Lions down by 18.
A 3-pointer by Edwards gave the Boilermakers a 59-37 lead. With Taylor guarding him, Haas added to the lead less than a minute later with an easy dunk.
Penn State returns to action at Northwestern at 8:30 p.m. Saturday.
This story was originally published January 13, 2016 at 10:52 PM with the headline "No. 24 Purdue owns paint in win over Penn State."