STATE COLLEGE, Pa. _ Tony Carr took over for Penn State at the end of regulation, helping the Nittany Lions claw back into the game and force overtime against No. 14 Purdue on Tuesday night.
The freshman point guard scored eight straight points for his team to tie the game with 17.7 seconds left. He drove and finished off the glass with Purdue's Caleb Swanigan challenging him in the lane. He knocked down a jumper and drove for a bucket against the Boilermakers' Vincent Edwards before tying the game on a short jumper over 5-foot-10 guard P.J. Thompson.
But Purdue regained control late in overtime _ thanks to back-to-back 3-pointers by Ryan Cline _ to escape with a 74-70 win at the Bryce Jordan Center.
Carr finished with 21 points, seven assists and five rebounds to lead Penn State. Lamar Stevens added 18 points and seven rebounds, and Mike Watkins had 11 points and 13 rebounds.
Edwards led six Purdue players in double figures with 14 points.
In overtime, with Penn State ahead 68-66, Cline knocked down a 3-pointer to push the Boilermakers ahead. Less than a minute later, Cline buried another lead to make it 72-68, and the Nittany Lions couldn't close the gap.
Penn State maintained the lead for the entire first half and the first nine-plus minutes of the second half. When Purdue sliced Penn State's lead to one point, the Nittany Lions responded to remain in control.
With Penn State clinging to a one-point lead, Purdue's Dakota Mathias chucked in a 3-pointer over Carr as the shot clock ran out to give his team a 50-48 lead with 7:31 to play. Edwards followed with a corner jumper for the Boilermakers, who pushed their lead to 62-54 on a 3-pointer by Mathias with 3:23 left in regulation before Carr carried the Nittany Lions in the final minutes to force overtime.
The Nittany Lions controlled play before Purdue took its first lead with 10:13 left when Swanigan found Isaac Haas for a dunk.
The Nittany Lions led for the entire first half, holding Purdue _ the conference's leader in field-goal percentage (48.3) _ to 29 percent shooting in the first half and outrebounding the Boilermakers 26-22.
Watkins led Penn State's effort on the glass, pulling down 12 rebounds to go with seven points in the first half.
