National Basketball Association
BOXSCORE | RECAP
Purdue 72, St. Mary's 69
When: 7:25 PM ET, Friday, March 16, 2012
Where: CenturyLink Center, Omaha, Nebraska
Officials: # Jeff Anderson, # Scott Thornley
Attendance: N/A

Purdue 72, Saint Mary's 69: Sophomore guard Terone Johnson scored a career-high 23 points and added five assists to lead the Boilermakers to a mild upset over the Gaels in the NCAA tournament.

Tenth-seeded Purdue (22-12) will play No. 2 seed Kansas in Sunday's third round of the Midwest Regional.

The Boilermakers led for all but a few seconds of the game, but they had a tough time putting away West Coast Conference champion Saint Mary's (27-6).

Purdue's 13-point second-half lead slowly evaporated, and Jorden Page buried a 3-pointer from the left wing to give St. Mary's a 69-68 advantage with 45 seconds left.

Lewis Jackson made two free throws - the first barely rolling over the front of the rim - with 22.8 seconds left to put Purdue back in front and Page missed everything on an ugly 3-point shot that would have given the Gaels the lead on their next possession.

Jackson added 16 points for Purdue, and Robbie Hummel and Anthony Johnson scored 10 apiece.

Rob Jones had 23 points and 14 rebounds for Saint Mary's and Matthew Dellavedova added 12 points and eight assists.

GAME NOTEBOOK: Purdue has won its first game in the NCAA tournament 13 consecutive times, including the past six years. … Johnson's previous career-high was 22 against Michigan on Feb. 25. … The Gaels outrebounded the Boilermakers 36-25, including a 10-4 edge on the offensive glass.
Top Game Performances
 
Purdue   St. Mary's
Terone Johnson 21 Scoring Rob Jones 23
Terone Johnson 5 Assists Matthew Dellavedova 8
Robbie Hummel 7 Rebounds Rob Jones 14
Lewis Jackson 6 Free Throws Made Matthew Dellavedova 5
D.J. Byrd 2 Steals Rob Jones 1
Sandi Marcius 2 Blocks Brad Waldow 2
Team Stats Summary
 
Team Points FG% 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA Assists Rebounds Blocks Steals Turnovers
Purdue 72 45.6 5-16 15-18 7 25 2 7 10
St. Mary's 69 42.2 4-25 11-13 11 36 3 3 11