Written by Ernie Casanova
HARTFORD, CT– In the second game of the night here at the XL Center in Downtown Hartford, the Purdue Boilermakers took on the defending champions Villanova Wildcats in a matchup that had Sweet 16 implications. It was a three-point shootout to begin with, but Villanova had a cold slump that set them back drastically, allowing the Boilermakers to separate themselves on the scoreboard. Purdue knocked off the reigning champion Wildcats by a score of 87-61 and will look to get one step closer to a Final Four.
Matt Haarms got things started for the Boilermakers with a dunk to score the first points of the game, followed by a jumper from Villanova’s Eric Paschall. After Haarms scored again with a layup, Collin Gillespie followed with a three-pointer for the Wildcats,. Carsen Edwards took it upon himself to start a firefight from beyond the arc for Purdue. After hitting two threes in a row, Edwards followed up with another one a couple of minutes later to give them a 16-8 lead. Jermaine Samuels sunk in a layup for Villanova in a continuance of the back and forth battle, but Edwards again hit another three that had the XL Center going wild. It was 19-10 and after a quick timeout, Gillespie hit two free throws followed by an Aaron Wheeler three-pointer for Purdue.
No matter what the Wildcats did, the Boilermakers were lights out from all over the floor in the first half. It was a 27-20 Purdue lead at the 7:30 mark, and Edwards successfully drained a beautiful stepback three-pointer with a defender in his face that made you ask yourself “how is Villanova going to stop this?”. Edwards started out the game shooting 4-6 from the floor and 4-6 from three-point range. His first four shots were from deep range as he picked up where he left off after a great output against Old Dominion in the first round. The Boilermakers led by as much as 19 in the first half and entered the locker room at halftime up 43-24.
The second half was no different. Better yet, it was actually worse. The Boilermakers actually led by more than 30 at one point and had the Wildcats reeling for some sort of break. Edwards came out hot once again, sinking another three-pointer one minute into the period. The Boilermakers went on a 16-0 run to start the half and kept Villanova scoreless for the first six minutes. By then, it was 59-26, and there was nothing else the Wildcats could do as they fell behind too large to a team that was blazing hot shooting from the floor tonight.
Purdue’s leading scorer was Carsen Edwards, as he finished with 42 points on 12-21 shooting and six rebounds. He was lights out from three-point range, going 9-16 from deep and not letting up the entire game. He attacked the rim with power and if he’s able to get his team firing on all cylinders again, they have a legitimate chance of going far in the tournament. Behind him was Haarms with 18 points and nine rebounds, while Ryan Cline added 12 points on 4-8 shooting from deep. Purdue shot 54% from the floor, 53% from three, while Villanova shot 34% from the floor and 29% from deep. The Wildcats just had no answer on how to put it to a halt and couldn’t keep up offensively.
Eric Paschall led the way for Villanova with 19 points, while Phil Booth added 15 and four rebounds. Jermaine Samuels, who came up huge last game, finished with 11.
(Image credit: Trevor Mahlmann / The SkyBoat)
