Feb. 11, 2009
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. (AP) - JaJuan Johnson had 14 points and 13 rebounds, and No. 20 Purdue beat Penn State 61-47 on Wednesday night.
Bobby Riddell scored a career-high 13 points, Nemanja Calasan scored 12 and E'Twaun Moore added 10 for the Boilermakers (18-6, 7-4 Big Ten), who moved into a tie for second place in the league.
Jamelle Cornley scored 16 points for Penn State (17-8, 6-6), which lost its third straight. Talor Battle, the conference leader with 18 points per game, went scoreless and shot 0-for-7 from the field. It was the first time this season and the third time in his career the sophomore was held without a point.
Purdue forward Robbie Hummel sat out again with a hairline fracture in his lower back. He has missed the past three games, and this was the first the Boilermakers won without him.
The Boilermakers evened a 67-64 loss at Penn State.
The Nittany Lions took a 22-16 lead before Purdue rallied. Back-to-back buckets by Moore, a pullup jumper from the top of the key by Johnson and a 3-pointer by Riddell gave Purdue a 25-22 edge. The Boilermakers led 28-26 at halftime.
Purdue opened the second half on an 18-2 run that included eight points by Riddell to increase its lead to 46-28. Penn State went scoreless for nearly 7 minutes during that stretch.
Penn State cut its deficit to 54-41 on a basket by Cornley with 8:36 to play, but the Nittany Lions went the next 7 1/2 minutes without a field goal.