Boilermakers Going To Sweet 16, Edge Huskies 76-74

Purdue Boilermakers forward JaJuan Johnson loomed big - both figuratively and literally; to illustrate that point, Johnson blocked a pair of Washington Huskies’ shots in the final minute and scored 22 points as well, leading #5 seed Purdue over #4 seed Washington 76-74 Saturday at Portland, OR.

The Huskies missed 10 of their first 13 shots and fell behind 20-8 after 10 minutes of action; the Boilermakers would go into halftime leading 39-28.  Jon Brockman helped Washington come back, adding a free throw and a third-chance putback with 3:07 left in the game to cut Purdue’s game-long lead to 69-67.  Brockman would score again, keeping the Huskies to within 73-71 with 1:36 remaining; that’s when Purdue’s Johnson would make those two key blocks with 57.8 seconds left.

The Boilermakers’ E’Twaun Moore would make two free throws to make it 75-71; Brockman would make one of 2 free throws with 6.8 seconds remaining.  After a quick foul by Washington, Moore would miss the first free throw but convert the second with 5.5 seconds left; the last made free throw iced the game for Purdue.

Purdue’s high scorer was Johnson with 22 points, 6 rebounds and 4 blocks while Moore added 14 with 3 rebounds, 6 assists and a block.  Washington was led by Isaiah Thomas (no relation to the NBA Hall of Famer) with 24 points, 2 rebounds, 3 assists and a steal while Quincy Pondexter and Brockman added 20 each - with Pondexter grabbing 10 rebounds, dishing out 2 assists and blocking 2 shots while Brockman grabbed 18 boards, dished out 3 assists along with a steal and a block.  Purdue plays again on Thursday when they face Connecticut.