No. 14 Indiana Boils Purdue
It took eight years for Indiana to get even.
A.J. Guyton scored 17 points Tuesday night as the No. 14 Hoosiers beat Purdue 79-65, knocking the No. 20 Boilermakers out of first place in the Big Ten and likely costing them a shot at the conference championship.
"I'm just glad we won. That doesn't enter into my thinking," coach Bob Knight said of the Hoosiers' role as spoiler. "It's a big game for us to win because it increases our record. Once we were out of the Big Ten race, then we started talking about what goes beyond and what we'd like to do."
It was the final game of the regular season for Purdue (21-8, 12-4 Big Ten), which now needs both Ohio State and Michigan State to lose at least one of their final two games in order to claim a share of the title. Indiana (20-6, 10-5) finishes on Sunday at Wisconsin.
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Eight years ago, Purdue cost Indiana a share of the Big Ten championship and a possible No. 1 NCAA tournament seed with a 2-point victory in the final game of the season, a defeat that so infuriated Knight he canceled the team's postseason banquet.
Indiana won the conference title in 1993 but lost 10 of the next 14 games to Purdue in the seven years since then, including 83-77 at West Lafayette in January.
"I couldn't be prouder of our players," Purdue coach Gene Keady said. "What I was trying to get was that next step, when you're trying to be a champion, and we couldn't get over the hump in a very hostile environment.
"You would have liked to see your seniors get some rings and it didn't hapen. What's happened in the last few years, they pretty much judge you on how you do in the NCAA anymore, not whether you win the Big Ten or not. So we hope we can use our lessons we learned during the season to do well in the Big Ten tournament and go into the NCAA. That's what everybody works for."
The Hoosiers got the Boilermakers under control early in the rematch Tuesday night, scoring the first 11 points during a 17-2 run over the opening seven minutes. Purdue missed its first seven shots and its two scoring leaders, Brian Cardinal and Jaraan Cornell, were shut out in the first half.
"We just didn't step up to the challenge," Cornell said. "We knew they were going to come out jacked up. We dug ourselves a hole and were never able to climb out of it.
"We worked so hard to get into a situation like this, and to come up short is very frustrating and disappointing," Cornell said of the Big Ten race.
Guyton, the Big Ten scoring leader, did not get a point until nine minutes before halftime, but the Hoosiers were still ahead by 15 and took the first of two 20-point leads on a rebound tip by Jarrad Odle.
Purdue cut the margin to 41-24 at halftime, and Cardinal's first point, a free throw, started a 12-2 run that briefly brought the Boilermakers back into the game at the start of the second half.
A 3-pointer by Cornell, his first basket, pulled Purdue within 43-32 and a steal and layup by Carson Cunningham and a rebound basket by Greg McQuay cut Indiana's lead to seven. Indiana responded with a basket by Lynn Washington and consecutive 3-pointers by Guyton and Dane Fife.
The Hoosiers widened the lead to 17 points with a basket and free throw by freshman Jeff Newton with six minutes to go. Purdue again pulled within 10, but two free throws apiece by Newton and Guyton, a 3-pointer by Michael Lewis and a basket by Washington in just over a minute put the game out of reach.
"It's nice for us to get a win, not necessarily taking away the Big Ten championship from Purdue," Lewis said. "We put ourselves in a good position again. We can't win the Big Ten title, but as far as seeding in the NCAA tournament, these last two qames (victories over Michigan State and Purdue) have meant a lot to us."
Kirk Haston added 16 points and Washington finished with 13 points and 12 rebounds for the Hoosiers.
Mike Robinson led Purdue with 23 points. Cardinal had six points, all on free throws, and missed all six of his shots from the field. Cornell was 2-for-11 and finished with five points.
"We just have to rebound from this game. We battled the whole season and just weren't able to finish it tonight," Cardinal said.
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