PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — E'Twaun Moore had 17 points and fifth-seeded Purdue held off a late charge by Northern Iowa for a 61-56 victory Thursday in the first round of the NCAA tournament.
JaJuan Johnson added 14 points for the Boilermakers (26-9), who led by as many as 14 in the West Regional at the Rose Garden Arena before the Panthers made it interesting down the stretch.
Kwadzo Ahelegbe had 11 points for Northern Iowa (23-11), which closed to within 56-54 on Kerwin Dunham's 3-pointer with 17.4 seconds left.
Chris Kramer made a pair of free throws before Ahelegbe missed a layup on the rim with 7.7 seconds left for Northern Iowa, and Lewis Jackson made one of two free throws on the other end for Purdue.
Ali Farokhmanesh, the Panthers' hero in the Missouri Valley tournament title game, made a pull-up jumper with 3 seconds left for Northern Iowa, before Moore made a pair of foul shots at the other end to seal the victory.
Northern Iowa, which failed to make even the NIT the past two seasons, started off 6-6 before going on an 11-game winning streak. The Panthers lost just four games after the first of the year and capped the season with a 60-57 overtime victory over Illinois State to win the MVC tournament championship.
The Boilermakers defeated Ohio State 65-61 on Sunday to claim the Big Ten championship. The conference tournament title was a boost for Purdue, which was expected to contend all year but lost three of its final four regular-season games.
The Panthers jumped out to a 6-4 lead before Purdue went on a 14-2 run, capped by Johnson's hook shot. The Boilermakers went on to lead 32-20 at the break.
The Panthers showed tenacity, however, and narrowed the gap to 40-34 on Ahelegbe's jumper and free throw with 12:10 left to play. After Johnson hit a long jumper for Purdue, Jordan Egleseder scored on a put-back for the Panthers.
Hummel missed several games this season with a hairline fracture in his lower back, but he returned to full strength in time for the conference tournament, where he averaged 16 points and 9.3 rebounds in earning the tournament MVP award.
Hummel wasn't much of a scoring threat for the Boilermakers in this one, managing only nine points, but he finished with 12 rebounds.
Purdue's aggressive defense limited Northern Iowa to just 37 percent shooting (20 of 54) from the field in the first half. The Boilermakers went into the game ranked 11th nationally in field goal percentage defense.
Purdue has held foes to under 40 percent shooting in 22 of 35 games.
Purdue has lost in the second round of the tournament the past two seasons, and while consistently making it to the early rounds, hasn't played for a title since 1969.
Northern Iowa made three straight trips to the tournament from 2004-06 under former coach Greg McDermott, who left for Iowa State. The Panthers' only win in the tournament came in 1990, when they shocked third-seeded Missouri.
