Edwards, Purdue hold off Vermont 80-70 in NCAA Tournament

By JAY COHEN
Associated Press 

MILWAUKEE (AP) — The drought is over for Purdue. Vincent Edwards and company finished it off with one big push against Vermont.

Edwards scored 15 of his 21 points in the second half, and the Boilermakers held off the Catamounts 80-70 on Thursday night for their first victory in the NCAA Tournament in five years.

Caleb Swanigan added 16 points, 14 rebounds and four assists for fourth-seeded Purdue (26-7), which lost to Arkansas-Little Rock in double-overtime in the first round last year. It also dropped its tournament opener to Cincinnati in 2015.

"Both of those games just replayed in my head all year, even though we had seasons to play," Edwards said. "I still could replay it almost every last three, four possessions, in each of those games. So to come out here, I just really wanted the win."

It was the first NCAA Tournament victory for the Boilermakers since they beat Saint Mary's in the first round on the same day in 2012. Next up is No. 5 seed Iowa State, which advanced with an 84-73 win against Nevada.

"It feels good but I don't think we want to stop here," said Dakota Mathias, who made three 3-pointers and finished with 13 points. "We play a good opponent the next game, have a quick turnaround, we've got to take care of ourselves and get back at it."

It was Vermont's first loss of 2017. The Catamounts (29-6), the regular-season and tournament champions in the America East, had the nation's longest active win streak at 21 games. But they lost versatile senior Kurt Steidl to a knee injury in the first half and were unable to make up for a huge disadvantage inside against the bigger, stronger Boilermakers.

Anthony Lamb had 20 points and nine rebounds, and Trae Bell-Haynes finished with 15 points, seven boards and six assists.

"We played a really good first half and were able to stay neck-and-neck with them, but in the second half they just made a few more plays and hit a couple of 3s down the stretch and they're a really good team," Catamounts guard Dre Wills said.

With Swanigan and 7-foot-2 center Isaac Haas, Purdue had a sizeable advantage in the paint. But the Catamounts played tough perimeter defense, turning post passes into a risky proposition, and stayed right with the Boilermakers with opportunistic baskets on offense.

But the combination of Edwards and Swanigan was too much to overcome down the stretch. Edwards scored Purdue's first eight points of the second half, helping the Boilermakers open a 45-38 lead.

Every time Vermont made a charge in the second half, Purdue had a response.

"Our guys, you know, answered every one of their runs by either going inside, knocking down 3s, and they were a good team," coach Matt Painter said. "One of the best teams we've faced all year."

Darren Payen made a jumper and Ernie Duncan hit a 3 to get the Catamounts within one before Swanigan responded with a 3 for the Boilermakers. A jumper by Lamb trimmed Purdue's lead to five, but Carsen Edwards and P.J. Thompson each hit a 3 to make it 76-65 with 1:56 remaining.

The Boilermakers finished with a 38-28 rebounding advantage and outscored the Catamounts 42-24 in the paint. They also shot 52 percent from the field.

"It's huge, we got the monkey off our back with two first-round exits the last two years with pretty good teams," said Thompson, who finished with 10 points. "We had a hell of a year this year. The last thing we were going to do is lose in the first round."

AILING

Steidl went down after he jumped out to defend a 3-point attempt with about 2 minutes left in the first half. A trainer worked on his left leg for a short while before the swingman was helped to the locker room, walking on his own, but with a pronounced limp.

Coach John Becker said Steidl was headed to the hospital after the game for further evaluation.

"I feel terrible for Kurt because I know how much this meant to him," Becker said.

BIG PICTURE

Vermont: Becker said he was proud of his team for how it battled the Boilermakers all night long. He also praised his players for their accomplishments this season.

Purdue: The Boilermakers had eight turnovers in the first half and two in the second half. If they can take care of the ball the way they did after the break, they will be one tough out with their imposing front line.

UP NEXT

The Boilermakers face the Cyclones in the second round on Saturday.

Vermont-Purdue Preview

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MILWAUKEE — Purdue will try to erase the sting of last season’s first round upset when it takes on Vermont on Thursday in a Midwest Region first-round NCAA Tournament contest at the Bradley Center in Milwaukee.

The Boilermakers were a No. 5 seed last year when they committed 18 turnovers and fell in double-overtime, 85-83 to No. 12 seed Little Rock.

This year, the Boilermakers (25-7) come into the tournament as a No. 4 seed, thanks to winning the Big Ten by two full games and despite being knocked out early in the conference tournament.

Still, the Boilermakers have hit a stride late in the season. They followed an 83-80 loss at Nebraska with six straight victories and have won eight of their last 10 games.

“Our team’s purpose is to get past the first game — there you go,” junior center Isaac Haas said. “After that, we’ll get past the second game, and after that we’ll get past the Sweet 16. It’s a matter of taking it game-by-game.”

Coach Matt Painter had a similar view.

“For us to be able to get a 4, and you look at some of those 5 seeds, there’s a couple of 5s that had unbelievable seasons,” Painter said. “We feel that’s a definite reward for winning our conference by two games.”

Purdue has struggled at times, defensively. The Boilermakers rank near the bottom of the league in turnover differential and are allowing opponents to shoot 41.3 percent from the floor, but they make up for that with an efficient offense, anchored inside by Caleb Swanigan and Haas.

The Big Ten Player of the Year and candidate for National Player of the Year, Swanigan averaged 18.7 points, 12.6 rebounds and 2.8 assists per game this season while Haas contributed 12.8 points and 5.1 rebounds a night.

They’ll face a Vermont team that is 29-5 and hasn’t lost since falling at Butler on Dec. 21. The Catamounts’ 21-game winning streak is the longest in the country and includes a perfect run through the America East regular season and tournament slates.

“This would be the first game too that we’ll play without a lot of pressure on us,” Vermont coach John Becker said. “That should be a nice relief for our guys, just kind of cut it loose and I think it will give us a chance to play a really good game.”

The Catamounts are a disciplined bunch, averaging just 11 turnovers per game with 13 assists. Six-foot-six freshman Anthony Lamb leads the team with 12.6 points per game while junior Payton Henson, a 6-8 junior follows with 11.4 points and 5.3 rebounds.

“The Swanigan versus Lamb matchup should be a battle of two really good big men,” Becker said.

The two teams met last season in a nonconference contest, a 107-79 victory for Purdue in West Lafayette.

“We were able to score on them last year, but I haven’t seen a lot of tape,” Becker said. “I know Michigan beat them twice, Michigan likes to shoot a lot of 3s, so we’ll start digging into the tape tonight and start to have a better understanding of Purdue as we move toward Thursday.”

The winner will face either No. 5 Iowa State or No. 12 Middle Tennessee on Saturday.