E'Twaun Moore threw a perfect lob pass to JaJuan Johnson, only to have a soaring Jeff Brooks knock the ball straight into the air.
As per the Nittany Lions' season, the ball hit the top of the backboard, popped up and swished through the basket. From there, the rout was on.
The Penn State men's basketball team (8-13, 0-9 Big Ten) dropped its ninth-straight game, losing 66-46 at No. 10 Purdue (18-3, 6-3) Sunday in West Lafayette, Ind. After going into the half ahead by just two, Purdue exploded to a 16-2 run to start the second period.
"I kinda think it was what we didn't do," freshman forward Bill Edwards told the Penn State radio network. "We didn't come out and match their intensity, and they came out and hit some big shots."
In the first half, the Lions shot just 8-for-25 from the floor for 32 percent, but coach Ed DeChellis told the Penn State radio network he liked the defense the team was playing. However, Purdue found its touch from deep in the second half, hitting 7 of 10 from 3-point land.
DeChellis said his halftime talk to the team was focused on winning the first four minutes of the second half. Instead, the first four minutes saw the Lions do the opposite in conceding the run and falling into an insurmountable hole.
"They just made open shots. [Robbie] Hummel got loose a couple times and we didn't do a good job of guarding," DeChellis said. "All of a sudden they bang one, bang one and one goes off the top of the backboard on a rebound and [Chris] Kramer hits one at the shot clock. That's been the story."
For Penn State, the game was a collage of broken plays and unfortunate bounces. With 6:40 left in the first half, Brooks swatted the ball out of Johnson's hands only to watch as guard Cam Woodyard simply let it roll out of bounds.
Guard Talor Battle led Penn State with 13 points, but Edwards was the bright spot, finishing with 10 points, 13 rebounds and just three turnovers. Edwards told Penn State radio network he feels the game is starting to slow down for him.
"Coach is just telling me to value possession more and still look for my teammates," Edwards said. "The game is slowing down and that's also helping, but it's just valuing the ball more."
Going into the half, the Lions felt if they hit their open shots, they could stay with the Boilermakers. Instead, Penn State responded by shooting even worse -- 30.4 percent in the second half.
One play late in the game summed up the Lions' second half. Forward D.J. Jackson blocked a shot then fell to the floor, only to have center Drew Jones trip and fall over him. The pile of Lions took out two Boilermakers, but it was the Purdue players that got up first while the Lions were left looking at the hardwood.
"We have to absorb the pressure, we can't turn it over and we've got to get good shots," DeChellis said. "I thought first half we did exactly what we needed to do. Second half, the first four minutes, we just didn't do it. And it just snowballed from there."
