January 6, 1999
By DAVID KINNEY
Associated Press Writer
STATE COLLEGE, Pa. (AP) - No. 9 Purdue avenging Penn State's 11-point upset of a year was no big deal according to forward Brian Cardinal.
"Actually, a lot of us forgot about that," he admitted.
The Boilermakers (13-2, 1-0 Big Ten) might want to forget about this one as well. Jaraan Cornell had 23 points, but Purdue had to stave off a late comeback by Penn State on the way to a 70-67 victory Wednesday night.
"We have a lot of things we have to work on," said Cardinal, who added 13 points and four steals. "Just our defense. We played good defensively at times, but we didn't sustain it the whole game."
Greg McQuay had 12 points and eight rebounds for Purdue, which was coming off a long weather-related layoff after a 87-82 loss against Providence.
The Boilermakers, who had last weekend's home game postponed twice by the storm that struck the Midwest, have beaten the Nittany Lions in four of the past five meetings.
Gyasi Cline-Heard scored a career-high 23 points and Joe Crispin had 19 and seven assists for Penn State (9-4, 1-2), but the Lions couldn't repeat their 1998 win over Purdue, their biggest upset in a half-century.
They came close, however, cutting a 13-point deficit to 62-56 with 2:30 left behind eight straight points by Cline-Heard. He scored on a dunk, a layup, two free throws and another layup. Then Crispin, cold all night, hit a 3-pointer and Cline-Heard hit a layup and a foul shot to cut it to 64-62 with 1:18 left.
After Purdue's Mike Robinson was called for traveling, Crispin - who finished 3-for-13 from 3-point range - missed a pull-up jumper and a 3 at the other end. Cornell and Tony Mayfield then went 6-for-6 at the foul line.
"I felt like I had two definitely good looks," said Crispin, who beat Temple with a jumper in the final minute last month. "The 2-pointer is a shot that I love. That's a shot I'll take in any game. And the 3 was just a little short."
Cornell, who missed last year's upset with a sprained ankle, was 7-for-12 from the field. He and the Boilermakers' other quick guards forced the Lions out of their perimeter game.
Penn State managed only three outside baskets in the second half and were 3-of-17 from 3-point range overall.
"All year we've been pretty good at closing out on 3-point shots and it's something we work at hard in practice," Purdue coach Gene Keady said.
"We have great guards," Cardinal said. "We knew they had great guards, too, and we just tried to take them out of what they do best."
Purdue outrebounded Penn State 38-25 and held the Lions to six offensive rebounds.
Penn State coach Jerry Dunn said his team lost the game in the first half, when Purdue forced them into 36 percent shooting, including 1-for-8 from 3-point range, and took a nine-point halftime lead.
"For whatever reason, we weren't in synch," Dunn said. "We didn't make shots. It was just one of those games where nothing goes right. That's about as bad as we've played this year. We really shot ourselves in the foot."