Purdue 68, Illinois 61
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. -- Terone Johnson scored a career-high 25 points and grabbed nine rebounds to help Purdue upset No. 11 Illinois 68-61 on Wednesday night.
D.J. Byrd scored 15 points and Jacob Lawson added 10 points and seven rebounds for the Boilermakers (7-6), who won their third straight.
Brandon Paul scored 15 points, Joseph Bertrand scored 14 and Tracy Abrams added 12 for Illinois (13-2), which has lost two of three after winning its first 12 games this season. Illinois led 33-31 at halftime.
Ronnie Johnson's layup gave Purdue a 39-37 lead, but Abrams responded with a 3-pointer to give the Fighting Illini the lead. A 3-pointer by Tyler Griffey extended Illinois' lead to 45-39.
Purdue battled back and finally took a 49-47 lead on a 3-pointer by Byrd with just under eight minutes remaining.
Byrd hit another three that bounced up and in to push Purdue's lead to four. On the Boilermakers' next possession, Terone Johnson scored and was fouled. His 3-point play pushed Purdue's lead to 55-48. A pair of free throws by Terone Johnson with 3:25 to go increased Purdue's lead to 59-49.
Paul's 3-pointer with 2:20 to play cut Purdue's advantage to 61-55, and another three by Paul with 1:45 remaining made it 61-58.
Terone Johnson responded with a floater to bump Purdue's lead back up to five, but a deep --pointer by Illinois' D.J. Richardson with 31 seconds left chopped it down to two.
Purdue's Jacob Lawson was fouled with 21.5 seconds left. He missed both free throws, but Byrd got the rebound, then called timeout as he was falling out of bounds. Byrd then scored on the inbounds pass and was fouled. He made the free throw to make it 66-61 and seal the win for Purdue.
Purdue gained some early momentum with a 3-pointer by Terone Johnson before Johnson fouled Paul on a 3-pointer that banked in. Paul converted the four-point play to give lllinois an 11-7 lead. A 3-poointer by Bertrand put Illinois up 16-9, and it looked like the Fighting Illini might run away from the Boilermakers.
Illinois missed a layup and the Boilermakers found Terone Johnson ahead of the pack on the other end. He converted a layup and was fouled, missed the free throw, came up with the rebound and scored to cut Illinois' lead to 16-13.
The Boilermakers trailed by one before Paul hit another three, then D.J. Richardson scored in close to extend Illinois' lead to six.
Purdue rallied and a floater off the glass by Anthony Johnson cut Illinois' lead to 21-20. The Boilermakers finally took a 22-21 lead on a bucket by Terone Johnson and the lead went back and forth for the next several minutes.
Illinois led 33-31 in the final minute of the first half before Purdue's Anthony Johnson missed a wide-open layup. Purdue got another chance and could have taken the lead at halftime, but Byrd missed a 3-pointer and Illinois maintained its two-point lead at the break, 33-31. Bertrand scored 12 points for Illinois in the first half. Terone Johnson had 13 for Purdue.
NOTES: Purdue was the only team in the Big Ten to end 2012 without a winning record. ... Purdue entered the game with a seven-game win streak in the series. ... Illinois' Tracy Abrams was the Big Ten's most recent Player of the Week.
