National Basketball Association
BOXSCORE | RECAP
Purdue 70, Northwestern 57
When: 2:30 PM ET, Saturday, March 9, 2019
Where: Welsh-Ryan Arena, Evanston, Illinois
Officials: # Terry Wymer, # Paul Szelc, # D.J. Carstensen
Attendance: 7039

Junior guard Carsen Edwards delivered a game-high 21 points as Purdue claimed a share of its 24th Big Ten Conference title with a 70-57 victory over Northwestern on Saturday afternoon in Evanston, Ill.

The 11th-ranked Boilermakers (23-8, 16-4) split the regular-season crown with No. 9 Michigan State, which rallied to beat No. 7 Michigan several hours later. Purdue also wrapped up the No. 2 seed and a double-bye into the quarterfinals of next week's Big Ten tournament.

Junior guard A.J. Turner posted 14 points to pace Northwestern (13-18, 4-16), which finished in the Big Ten's basement for the first time since 2007-08. The Wildcats own the No. 14 seed and will play Wednesday night in the Big Ten tournament's opening round.

Senior forward Vic Law (13 points, seven rebounds) swished a 3-pointer on the game's first possession for Northwestern, but Purdue needed less than two minutes to take the lead for good. Edwards sank his first two 3-point attempts -- something he had been struggling to do on the road -- to give the Boilers a 10-3 lead 3:06 into the game.

Northwestern edged within 22-20 on Law's jumper with 6:09 left in the first half, but senior guard Ryan Cline answered with a four-point play to trigger a 10-0 run for Purdue. That spree also included another four-point possession as Edwards and Cline hit two free throws apiece at the 1:50 mark thanks to a technical foul whistled on Northwestern coach Chris Collins.

Purdue owned a 33-25 lead at the break as Edwards posted a game-high 11 points despite missing his final five 3-point attempts. Law paced Northwestern with 10 points and six rebounds, but the Boilermakers outrebounded the Wildcats 25-15.

Purdue led by double figures much of the second half, though Northwestern made a run midway through when Turner hit a pair of 3-pointers and fed senior center Dererk Pardon (eight points) for a layup.

That 8-0 run pulled the Wildcats within 54-47 with 9:10 to go, but sophomore guard Nojel Eastern (15 points) responded with a pair of layups (one he turned into a 3-point play) and junior center Matt Haarms added a layup to restore the margin to 60-47.

--Field Level Media

Top Game Performances
 
Purdue   Northwestern
Carsen Edwards 21 Scoring A.J. Turner 14
Carsen Edwards 5 Assists Anthony Gaines 3
Trevion Williams 7 Rebounds Vic Law 7
Carsen Edwards 6 Free Throws Made Anthony Gaines 2
Matt Haarms 2 Steals Aaron Falzon 1
Matt Haarms 3 Blocks Pete Nance 2
Team Stats Summary
 
Team Points FG% 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA Assists Rebounds Blocks Steals Turnovers
Purdue 70 41.1 7-24 17-23 15 34 4 6 7
Northwestern 57 39.6 11-24 8-8 13 22 4 3 12