COLUMBUS, Ohio - #16 FDU (21-15, 10-6 NEC) made history Friday night, becoming the second #16 seed to upset a #1 seed as they took down #1 Purdue (29-6, 15-5 Big 10) 63-58 in the First Round of the NCAA Division I Men's Basketball Championship.
FDU joins UMBC as the only #16 seeds to upend a #1 seed, as the Retrievers topped Virginia in 2018. The Knights are 3-6 all-time in the NCAA tournament and notched their first victory outside the First Four. The Knights will face #9 Florida Atlantic Sunday, March 19 at 7:45 p.m. on truTV in the round of 32.
The Knights played with a purpose early on, taking a 5-2 lead two minutes in. The Boilermakers battled back, taking a 9-8 lead with 14:58 left in the first. FDU countered back with a 7-0 run, holding Purdue scoreless for nearly three minutes. The early spurt was finished with a three-pointer from graduate student Demetre Roberts.
Trailing 15-9, the Boilermakers embarked on a 15-4 spurt midway through the first half to take a five-point lead at 24-19. FDU answered with 10 of the following 14 markers and finished with a second-chance putback from rookie Cameron Tweedy. Senior Heru Bligen polished off FDU's stellar first half with a layup off a steal from graduate student Grant Singleton with 18 ticks left in the frame.
Bligen and Tweedy led the Knights with six first-half tallies, as Roberts and Singleton had five. Purdue shot 42.3% (11-of-26) from the floor and, despite holding a significant height advantage, only out-rebounded FDU 19-16.
A second-chance bucket from sophomore Sean Moore extended the margin to three early in the second half, but the Boilermakers fought back and leveled the game at 41 on a jumper from Zach Edey. Purdue catapulted in front 47-41 on the heels of a 10-0 run, taking the six-point lead with 11:41 left.
The Burgundy and Blue answered the bell again, converting eight of the following 10 points to inch back in front 49-47. A pull-up jumper from Moore stretched FDU's margin to four before Purdue countered with a Fletcher Loyer three-pointer. Neither side could score for the next five minutes before Moore drained two from the charity stripe.
Moore swiped the ball from Edey with 1:42 left and, on a two-on-one break, laid the ball in for a layup off a feed from Singleton. Loyer drained a pair from the line, Moore knocked down one of the biggest shots of his short career, hitting a triple with 1:05 left to extend the gap to 61-56.
The two sides exchanged free throws in the final minute before Roberts grabbed a rebound off a miss and drew the foul. The graduate student sank both before swatting a layup attempt with a second to go. Roberts cemented the victory by stealing the ensuing inbounds pass, sealing the win.
Moore picked the perfect time for a career-high, going for 19 points while grabbing five boards. Roberts tallied 12 points as Tweedy added 10 and six boards. Edey paced Purdue with his NCAA-leading 27th double-double, going for 21 points and 15 rebounds.
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