Penn State falls just short vs. Purdue in Big Ten final, earns NCAA at-large bid

CHICAGO — Penn State fell short of winning its first Big Ten Tournament title Sunday, losing to Purdue, 67-65.

But the Nittany Lions are happy with their consolation prize, an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament. Tenth-seeded Penn State (22-13) will face seventh-seeded Texas A&M (25-9) at 9:55 p.m. Thursday in a Southwest Region game in Des Moines, Iowa.

It’s Penn State’s first trip to the NCAAs since 2011, when they lost to Temple in the second round. The Lions were in position to make it in 2020, but the tournament got canceled because of the covid-19 pandemic.

The Nittany Lions are 0-4 all-time against the Aggies, with the last meeting taking place in 2017. Thursday’s winner will face second-seeded Texas (26-8) or 15th-seeded Colgate (26-8) in the second round.

Penn State, which has won eight of its past 10 games, put a big scare into No. 5-ranked Purdue in Sunday’s title game.

The Boilermakers (29-5) led by as many as 17 in the second half, only to have the lead shrink to one in the closing seconds. They came away with their second title to go with one in 2009.

“We’re fighters, man,” Penn State star Jalen Pickett said. “We got down, but we didn’t want it to end. We wanted to raise that trophy at the end, and we just kept fighting. Made our way back. We started pressing a little bit, causing them problems. That’s us gonna be us. We’re going to try and figure something out, and we’re not going to give up until the end.”

Seth Lundy led Penn State with 19 points, and Camren Wynter scored 14.

Penn State made things interesting in the final minute. Purdue led 66-60 when Myles Dread nailed a 3 with 16 seconds remaining. Evan Mahaffey then stole Brandon Newman’s inbound pass and fed Wynter for a layup that made it a one-point game with 6 seconds remaining.

Purdue’s Fletcher Loyer then made a free throw before missing the second. Penn State’s Andrew Funk got the rebound, but after a timeout, Wynter got called for traveling just before the final buzzer.

Zach Edey, the Big Ten Player of the Year, shook off the constant double teams and delivered another big performance for Purdue’s fifth straight win. The 7-foot-4 center made 12 of 17 shots and finished with 30 points and 13 rebounds.

“It’s a great feeling,” said Edey, who was wearing a tournament championship cap and T-shirt to go with the net dangling from his neck. “Obviously, we’ve got two nets, we’ve got two hats with the netting on them, we’ve got two trophies. It rewards the work that you’re putting in and validates all of it.”

David Jenkins Jr. scored 11 for the Boilermakers, who beat the Nittany Lions for the 16th time in the past 17 games.

The Nittany Lions — one of the best 3-point shooting teams in the country — made just 7 of 23 from beyond the arc.

Purdue went on a 9-0 run early in the second half to break open a 43-38 game.

Edey and Caleb Furst got it started with layups, and Trey Kaufman-Renn finished it with a three-point play that stretched the lead to 52-38 with 10:10 remaining.

The lead hit 17 when Mason Gillis nailed a 3 and Edey scored on a hook, making it 60-43 with 6:18 remaining.